DarkSide
by ChampagneWishes
Summary: Someone is trying to kill Batman, but who are they and why? And who is the strange young woman who has arrived in Gotham? It took three years but it's complete!
1. Chapter 1

**A new BB fic- hope you all like it, its going to be a bit long and more complicated than my last so please R&R!**

_I own known of these characters- unless I made them up, in which case I sorta claim them, but they still exist in the Batman Beyond Universe, which someone else owns._

Terry circled the city in his plane. It had been a quiet night, the sun was just beginning to rise over the tops of the buildings, casting a golden light over the crowded city.

"Look almost angelic," Terry smirked, he'd never admit what relief he felt every time he saw a sunrise, as if all the evil of the city retreated back into dark corners. He knew that wasn't how it really worked. Evil came in many forms and not just at night.

"But we know better," Bruce muttered, "You'd better come back,"

"Right, ah slag it… looks like I have one last thing to take care of." The computer onboard the plane had picked up a distress call, a mugger. He turned the play away from the manor and headed to the scene of the crime.

"Isn't it a little early for the bad guys?" Terry asked, as he landed between the assailant and his victim.

"Batman!" The man dropped the bag he had been trying to steal and turned to flee. Batman didn't bother to pursue him, Gotham jails were already overcrowded, a petty, pathetic thief wasn't worth the trouble.

"Thank you," The woman looked up at him, she had large amber eyes framed by dark lashes, and they didn't hold the fear Batman was used to inspiring, if anything her voice was too cool, too calm.

"Be careful, dark allies in Gotham are never safe, even in daylight." Batman growled as he picked up the bag and handed it back to the woman, and then turned on his jet boots and was gone.

"Well, you got your first look at him," The assailant walked back into the ally, "Now, about my payment…"

"Right, of course," The woman opened her bag, smiling at the man, then she drew a gun and shot him. "Thanks for your help." She looked up at the sky as the sun spread out across it, and smiled. She liked this city already, she kicked the lifeless body to the side, and then calmly walked out onto a main street as the city slowly came to life.

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"Terry! You're going to be late for school!" Terry heard his mom yell, just as he slipped in through the window. He needed to be more careful about cutting it so close.

"Be right there Mom!" he yelled, silencing his alarm clock. He showered and changed quickly into his street clothes, and appeared in the kitchen not ten minuets after he had come in through the window.

"Don't forget…"

"I know…. I know… Matt has soccer practice today; I need to drop him off at the field."

"Mom! I hate soccer! I don't wanna go!" Matt whined as he came into the kitchen.

"C'mon Mattie, its not so bad, all your friends play." Mary ruffled her youngest son's hair.

"I gotta go, see you after school twerp," And with that Terry was out the door.

"Wow, nice bike,"

"Huh?" Terry looked around, wondering who was talking to him, a girl he didn't recognize was leaning casually against the garage wall. "Oh thanks," the bike had been an 18th Birthday present from Bruce. His mom hadn't been very happy about the gift, she had been pressuring Terry to buy a real car. "Do you live here?" Terry glanced up at the building, "I haven't seen you around before."

"Just moved in, I'm Claire," She offered Terry a hand.

"Terry," he shook her hand, looking into her vivid green eyes, then quickly looked away and fiddled with his bike lock. "See you around," he put on his helmet and pressed a few buttons to lower the garage gate, then was off. Trying to shake the mental image of those piercing green eyes, _Dana- you have a girlfriend- you love her- her name is Dana. Dana. Dana._ _Green eyes. Dana!_ Terry decided to give up thinking about any females and just focused on driving, he loved his new bike, especially with certain enhanced Batman features.

Terry saw Nelson glaring at him as he pulled the bike into the school lot, and took off his helmet, but he just smiled. Nelson turned his glare to the expensive sports car, as if it had somehow failed him. "McGuiness!" A rather angry female voice interrupted Terry's gloat. Terry watched an angry Dana approach him apprehensively.

"Hey Dane," He smiled nervously. Damn, he could approach twenty Jokerz without batting an eyelash, but an angry girlfriend made him quiver.

"Where were you last night?"

"Huh? I…" he thought back, had they made plans that he'd forgotten about?

"You were supposed to come over to study last night!" Oh crap, he had a Chem quiz today.

"Did Max make it?"

"Yeah, she was there. You know, I don't even know why I bother getting angry anymore."

"Dana, I'm sorry, last night was kinda crazy, I… I had a lot to do!"

"You _always_ have a lot to do Ter! Don't bother acting like last night was unusual. And don't say 'you'll make it up to me!'- you're the one who's going to fail the quiz!" With that she stormed away.

"Bad night?" Max asked, grinning at him.

"Worse morning…" Terry said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking nervously after Dana and trying to ignore Nelson who was smiling after watching Terry get told-off. "And it's not going to get any better…"

"You'll be fine on the quiz. Least you showed up for it." Max playfully took Terry's arm and dragged him toward the school as the five minuet warning bell sounded, "Besides, Chemistry's your best subject." Long nights of working with lots of dangerous chemicals with Bruce had taught Terry a lot.

"Too bad we don't get to make plastic explosives or fear gas…" Terry whispered, "that stuff I know how to make."

"You know how to make fear gas?" Max whispered as the slid into their seats.

Terry shrugged, "know your enemy."

"Can you make that giggle-stuff that Jo-?" Terry elbowed her as Dana slid in next to him, still glaring at him.

"What giggle-stuff?" Dana demanded.

"Uh you know…" Max thought quickly, "that giggle-something makeup? I was thinking it would be interesting for applied chemistry to try and make it…"

"You mean Giogli?" Dana pronounced it some way unknown to anyone except makeup connoisseurs and native-Italian speakers. "Giogli is known for not using chemicals- all his makeup is 100 percent natural."

"Yeah right," Max said.

"Class, if it's not too much trouble, could I please have your attention?"

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"Hey twip, how was school today?" Terry asked, but he knew the answer before Matt even opened his mouth, his brother was shuffling his feet and didn't even look excited when Terry arrived on the motorcycle.

"Fine," Matt's voice was dead.

"Here," Terry handed him a helmet. When he reached up to take it, Terry noticed a black eye. "Mattie, what happened?"  
"Nothing!" Matt snatched the helmet, "Can we just go?"

"Mom's going to notice that I think,"

"Not if I tell her that it happened at soccer practice!"

"What if I tell her otherwise?" Terry threatened.

"Then I'll tell her that you didn't get in until after 5am this morning. Where were you anyway? With Dana?"

"Get on," Terry growled, kick-starting the bike. To himself he was thinking that maybe he started to teach Matt some self-defense, show him a few moves. What good was it of being Gotham's protector if he couldn't stop his little brother from getting beat up on the school yard?


	2. Chapter 2

"You're late," Bruce growled at him when Terry came into the batcave.

"Sorry, had to take my little brother to soccer practice."

"We have some errands to run," Bruce told him. From his tone, Terry knew that he'd be in a suit, the uncomfortable kind.

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"Ah, Bruce, so glad you could join us," An oily man with slicked back black hair offered Bruce his hand, but Bruce made no move to take it, resting both hands on his cane. "And Mr. McGuiness, always a pleasure." Unlike his employer, Terry knew he couldn't afford to be rude, so he offered Mr. Harvey Maxwell his hand. "Let's go inside my office to talk, Mr. McGuiness, if you need anything, talk to my assistant, Leslie." He put his hand on Bruce's back and led him into his large office. Terry smirked when he saw Wayne stiffen even more at the man's touch.

"Would you like anything?" The secretary was blonde and attractive, and Terry had heard a rumor that Mr. Maxwell himself had paid for her breast implants.

"Coffee, would be great," he smiled at her. He had to find a way to make her leave the room so he could link to her computer, and do some digging around. Word on the street was that Mr. Maxwell was involved with some not so legal-smuggling of chemicals that had been outlawed, and had been using them in several of his engineered agricultural products. The chemicals were very toxic to humans and could cause serious harm to any workers, either in the factories or to the farmers, once the product was distributed. "Have you ever had Dairy Cow Coffee? I've had a craving for it all week, and we're right nearby, what do you say? While our employers are tied up?"

"Well… I have a lot of work…" Leslie looked at her computer then up into Terry's ice blue eyes, "but I guess I can leave for a little while…"

"I'm sure they'll never notice," Terry smiled. He left his laptop sitting beside his chair, set to automatically link to any computers nearby, Max had a special program installed and running, so the computer could autopilot hack- and if there was a problem, Max was alerted and could instantly access anything the laptop was accessing.

"Find anything interesting?" Bruce asked, as they got into the car.

"Mr. Maxwell coaches his son's t-ball league, makes all his employees do five hours of volunteer work a month, and only employs females with C or bigger cups. Oh, you meant in his computer." Terry grinned when Bruce's expression darkened. "My computer copied all the files off Leslie's computer, but I didn't have time to look through all of them yet, but I'm pretty sure the files include records on all his imports. Leslie's computer was pretty secure, for only being a secretary, so I'm thinking the files might be good. Max had to help the hack along a little bit."

"Good," Bruce leaned back in his seat, the sun was just starting to set. "Why don't you put the car on autopilot and get to work?"

"You got it boss," Terry pulled the car over and climbed out, "See you in a few hours."

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"There's a break in over at Gotham Central Bank,"

"On my way," Batman sighed, as he finished tying up a group of Jokerz. It had been a long night, a lot of petty criminals doing very stupid things. He wished the Gotham police could get their act together, he knew it wasn't the Commissioner or the DA's faults, they was busy with the big time criminals and didn't have time for the hundreds of thugs that roamed the streets at night, and the police weren't really equipped to deal with some of the bad guys- like Inque or Curarae. Even Mad Stan was more than they could handle.

"Any word on the criminals?"

"No, but they've taken the bank manager and several others hostage."

"Slag it…" Batman said as he sped towards the bank. Outside several police cars were gathered, the plane hovered the scene for a moment. "Any ideas?" There was no way he was getting in past the police.

"Around the back, there's a vent you can climb through, and into the room with the hostages, get them out that way."

"Right," Batman said, and he dropped from the plane, already invisible. He climbed in through the vents and made his way into the room. A batamarang caused the man to drop the gun, and before he could react he found himself pinned to the wall. "Get out!" He told the hostages, motioning to the vent he had just come in through. He knew Bruce had alerted Barbara, who had gathered police on the outside ready to take the hostages to safety. "How many are there in the other room?" Batman asked, but before he could get a response the door was blasted inwards, three men in masks that covered the lower half of their faces burst in, their eyes were protected by sunglasses, all wore identical dark green pants, black t-shirts, vests that matched the pants, and black gloves, all were holding extremely large guns, that looked more like rocket launchers and all were aimed at Batman. But the hostages were safe, Batman breathed a small sigh of relief as he leapt out of the way as the first round of rockets was fired at him. The room was very small but bullet proof, the rockets wouldn't penetrate the walls, not for the first few rounds anyway. Batman managed to fly at one and the gun clattered to the ground, the man was unconscious, he flew over their heads out into the main bank. The three remaining men rushed after him, the one Batman had caught earlier, and then released had picked up the unconscious man's gun. Batman noted he wasn't wearing the vest, but otherwise his outfit was the same. Batman disappeared behind a large pillar, and watched as one man signaled the other two to spread out to hunt for him.

One man walked right beneath Batman, and Batman dropped on him. The man's gun clattered away, the other two were drawn by the noise and ran towards the pillar. Batman through the gun out into the middle of the hall, without thinking both men fired at it. One hit, blowing the gun to smithereens, the other missed, and his rocket struck a large pillar which started to fall, a large piece knocked the gunman unconscious, Batman swooped out and carried the man to safety, oblivious to his commrade's safety the only remaining gunman fired at Batman, carrying the other man, Batman was barely able to avoid the blow, which grazed his thigh with a searing fire. He dropped the man and was barely able to avoid colliding with a wall. The third man started to fire again, but an ice batamarang froze the gun, and would have frozen the man's hands but he dropped it and turned to run, but Batman was able to swoop down, and tied him tightly to one of the pillars, then rounded up his two companions. From the corner of his eye he thought he saw standing in one of the corners watching, but surely no one had been standing there before. He shook his head and blamed it on exhaustion or pain, his leg was injured and he needed to get back to Bruce.

Outside he managed quickly realized that one jet boot wasn't working and had to bring the bat mobile down to the ground so he could climb in. He saw the Commissioner but she made no move toward him, they had to be careful not to show too much familiarity.

"Batman, are you alright?"  
"Yeah, but I'm coming home."

"Are you hurt?"  
"A little, and the suit's definitely been damaged,"

"Alright, bring it in." Bruce sighed, that boy did an awful lot of damage to that poor suit.

"Bruce,"

"I'm here," Bruce sighed when Barbara's voice came over the frequency they had set up to share information.

"I think the bat's injured,"

"He's headed home."

"Good, he did a good job tonight, don't be too hard on him."

"Right," Bruce couldn't help smiling, he was proud of Terry.

"You might want to stay off of that for a few days," Bruce recommended, as Terry hopped off the gurney and tried to walk around the cave with his bandaged thigh.

"It's fine," Terry said, pulling on his pants, "How's the suit?"

"If the rocket did that to your leg, how do you think the suit's doing?" Bruce told him, the words came out more harshly than he meant them to. Terry's leg would heal, but it was going to be tough injury to hide, and he was going to have trouble walking for a few days. Back in his day, the injury would have scarred, Bruce thought to himself. Now they had things like Gel-O-Cast, which he had carefully applied to Terry's injury. Not the first time they had used the stuff. But this was still one of Terry's worse injuries, despite his attempt to cover it Bruce could tell the boy was in pain. "Go home, get some rest,"

"I thought I could do a little research on who those guys were," Terry said, making his way to the computer. "Or do a little digging on Maxwell," Bruce sighed, maybe he had trained the boy too well.

"I need you on the streets, not behind the screen, go home. Get some rest." Bruce ordered him.

"Alright, alright," Terry said, "I'm going." Bruce watched him limp painfully up the steps.

"Sorry kid," he said softly.

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"Terry?" His mom asked when he came in.

"Hey Mom," Terry attempted a smile, this was the disadvantage to coming home before midnight, his mom was still awake. She had her schoolwork spread out in front of her.

"How was work? You got home early…" She glanced at her watch, "Normally you don't get in for another hour or two." She had finally come to accept Bruce's "odd" hours- of course she had no idea how late he actually came in. Terry just told her one or two am so she didn't worry too much.

"Uh… work was fine, excellent actually, Bruce let me come home early."  
"That's good, you know, I do have to wonder what do you do for him that…" Terry shot her a look and she held up her hands in defeat, "you're right, it's not my place." She gathered up her work, "Looks like its time for bed for me at least, as long as you're home, try to get some sleep." She kissed her son on the cheek. "I always sleep easier at night… knowing where you are."

"Good night Mom," Terry said, trying not to feel guilt at her last comment. He wondered how often she had laid awake at night… waiting to hear the creak of the door, and then not hearing it… Terry tried not to think about it, but as soon as she was gone he made his way into his room and collapsed onto his bed. God it felt good. He looked forward to the six whole hours of sleep with his name on them, then his vidphone rang. "Hey Dana," he smiled as his girlfriend's image appeared on the screen.

"Wow, you actually answered." Her tone sounded accusatory.

"Bruce let me come home early tonight." Granted he could barely walk… "How are you?" He asked.

Dana shrugged, "I'm alright, I didn't get to talk to you after Chemistry today,"

"Yeah, sorry, Bruce…"

"Called you out of school?"

"Yeah,"

"I swear Ter, I don't even know how you're passing your classes with all your absences." Terry didn't say anything, telling Dana "the commissioner pulled some strings"- probably not the best plan. "You okay, you're kind of quiet."

"Sorry, just tired." He smiled, then yawned as if to emphasize his point.

"Night Ter," Dana sounded disappointed.

"Night," Terry turned off the call, he felt bad but his leg really hurt and he really needed sleep. He'd try and make it up to her this weekend.

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"Well? Are you happy, four of my best men are in jail tonight."

"Relax, I've already seen that they will be released shortly on a technicality."

"We got nothing,"

"No, we have everything we need." The woman placed a vid disk into the computer, and watched Batman maneuvers against the four Rocketmen, smiling when the rocket slammed into Batman. "We even injured him, perfect." She smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm kind of sad this story isn't getting any hits- but I'm having fun with it, so I'm going to keep writing!**

Terry woke u in the middle of the night, dreaming that someone had set his leg on fire. He woke up, shaking and sweating, and his leg really did feel like it was on fire. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. It was the Gel-O-Cast, forcing the leg to heal faster than it would have unassisted, but did it have to hurt so much? He gritted his teeth and got out of bed, and limped to the bathroom, and washed his face. It was nearly five am, he'd only been asleep a few hours, but he felt wide awake. Normally at a time like this he'd go for a walk or a run, but he knew he wouldn't get far with his leg. But his room felt oppressive, he couldn't stand it anymore. He got up and got dressed and wandered out onto the streets of Gotham. He'd have to be careful, he was in no condition for a fight, even against a few lousy Jokerz.

"Terry?" A voice called softly to him as he rounded the corner. He turned, startling green eyes gazed at him, illuminated and glowing in the light from a street lamp, softening their color, making them glow.

"Claire… hi…"

"Sorry if I startled you."

"No, I just wasn't expecting to see anyone."

"Me neither," Claire smiled at him coyly, but Terry didn't fall for it.

"Gotham really isn't safe, you should be careful, walking around by yourself." He told her sharply.

Claire shrugged, her voice lost its softness, "I can take care of myself."

Terry gave her a half-smile, "I wasn't doubting that." He started to walk away.

"Terry?"

"Yeah?" He turned.

"Do you mind… if I walk with you?"  
Terry hesitated, but it really wasn't safe for her to be out by herself, and maybe a little company would be nice, "okay." The two walked in silence for several blocks, Terry enjoyed it, it felt comfortable, relaxed, the pain in his leg even lessened, or he grew used to it. And he used to opportunity to observe Claire out of the corner of his eye. She was quite tall for a female, very thin, long-limbed, the muscles in her legs flexed at every step. Her build was the opposite of Dana's curves. Her long curly dark red hair was pulled back into a pony tail, revealing high-cheekbones. Her skin was fair, as though she had avoided the sun. Apart from those startling eyes, there was nothing particularly striking about her, but her eyes! Like precious gems glittering out of pale stone.

Suddenly a Joker stepped out of the shadow interrupting his thoughts, "Hey pretty boy, mind giving me a go with that hooker of yours?"

"Actually, yeah, I do mind." Terry said, instinctively stepping in front of Claire as if to protect her. "Stay back…" he hissed to her from the corner of his mouth.

"It's fine," Claire said, brushing Terry lightly aside and stepping forward. "You want a go with me big boy?" He hips swayed seductively, the Joker licked his lips, Terry stared in horror, in her narrow figure he had barely noticed her hips, but suddenly there was no denying them, it was as though her entire body had suddenly transformed. "C'mere…" She smiled and the Joker took a step forward, but before he could do anything Claire had leveled the Joker with a powerful round kick to the head, and once again Terry's vision snapped back to the tall, powerful, muscular Claire.

"Damn… and here I just wanted to play nice… maybe I need to invite some friends…" The Joker said, getting to his feet, and wiping blood of his lip. Terry cursed to himself, but Claire stood her ground, smiling.

"Do you have my back? You seem like the hero type," She grinned at Terry, arching her eyebrows.

"And you seem like the trouble type," he snarled, annoyed. Several Jokerz crested over the hill on their bikes and then roared toward them. Claire smiled as the bikes approached, they pulled up and swerved their bikes to a halt.

"Whatssamatter BillyJoe, can't take these two punks?" One of the Jokerz glanced at Terry and Claire.

"Cat's got claws," 'BillyJoe' pointed to Claire.

"Meow," Claire smiled coldly. Terry didn't like where this was going.

"Hey guys, I know this kid, I don't think we wanna fight." One of the Jokerz looked at Terry anxiously.

"What's that BeBop?" The Joker turned to his comrade.

"This is the guy that put…" his words were interrupted when Claire leveled a kick at him, knocking him off his bike. Instantly the Jokerz surrounded them, brandishing their weapons that looked like gags, but could do some serious damage. Two of them rushed at Terry but he vaulted over their shoulders and smashed their heads together, they dropped like rocks. He landed on the other side, his leg screaming in protest. He saw three Jokerz about to jump Claire, and pulled one off and punched him hard in the jaw, then kneed his solar plexus, the guy fell to the ground winded, as his companion took a hard kick to the groin, but the other guy managed to pin Claire's arms behind her back and a second Joker approached her from the front. Suddenly Claire jumped up and kicked the approaching Joker hard in the chest, knocking him to the ground and then flipped over the other guy's back. The confused Joker turned around to snatch at her but she met him with a bone cracking kick to the jaw. The beaten and bedraggled Jokerz got onto their bikes and fled.

"You were right," Terry said, "you can take care of yourself."

"Thanks," Claire smiled, "you have some nice moves yourself."

"Yeah, well…" Terry's leg was throbbing now after the fight. He was angry that this girl had forced him to fight.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," Terry straightened up and started to walk home.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," Claire came after him. "I… I shouldn't have asked you to fight with me like that."

"You shouldn't have started that fight at all!" Terry scolded her. "Do you think it's some kind of a game? Even if you know how to fight…" He said, his voice giving away some of his admiration.

Claire looked at him evenly, "It's not a game?" she smiled.

Her comment surprised him, "No, it's not, someone could get seriously hurt… and I don't mean the Jokerz." He looked into the distance where their bikes had vanished.

"I saw you fighting Terry, it's in your soul. You're a fighter, like me. You enjoy it, don't deny it. And don't try telling me you that you don't fight, I saw your moves, you knew exactly what you were doing."

Terry shrugged, "Gotham's a rough place, have to know how to take care of yourself. And getting into fights, even if you win them… does not count as taking care of yourself."

"You really do have a hero-complex don't you? Always have to rescue everyone, I bet the fact that I can take care of myself annoys you, you're used to playing the protector. I blame Batman."

"What?" Her comment startled him.

"Batman, male-role-model, he goes around the saving damsels in distress, gives you guys funny ideas. He's a hero, makes the men in this city think they need to be heroes to, try and compete with him."

"Uh…"

"That's what I thought," She smiled at him, "Some of us girls like to have a little fun too, y'know." She wiped imaginary dust off her coat, "Besides, for people like you and me… we just can't help it, the battle's in our blood. Male or female, doesn't matter."

"We should be getting home," Terry said, looking away from those mesmerizing green eyes.

"I knew from the moment I saw you… a fellow fighter can always tell."

"We really should get out of here, they'll come back with reinforcements."

"So, we could take them." Claire smiled at him playfully, but Terry gave her a cold look and she dropped her playful gaze, but Terry could tell she was still smiling. What was so funny?


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm telling you, this girl was crazy, she wanted to fight Jokerz. Who wants to fight those guys?" Terry was telling Max his adventures from the night before.

"Oh come on Ter, you know you enjoy a good ass-whooping every once in awhile." Max elbowed him playfully and was surprised when her gently nudge caused Terry to become slightly unbalanced. "You okay?"

"I'd have been better if I hadn't be hit by rocket," Terry grimaced.

"Was this before or after the Jokerz?"

"After, but the Jokerz didn't help." Terry eased himself into a seat in the classroom.

"No wonder you weren't in the mood to fight," Max said sagely.

"I don't like fighting!" Terry growled at her.

"Right, whatever." Max opened her computer as if to signal an end to the discussion.

"I'm serious!"

"Is that why you dress up in a costume and go out and pummel people nightly?"

"I don't pummel anyone," Terry sighed, this argument was pointless.

"And I think she had a point, you know, about men in this city having a hero complex."

"As I recall Nelson ran and hid when a huge robot almost stomped Blade to death."

"Well, okay, in a real situation they're useless," Terry glared at her, "I mean in most situations most of them are useless, but they're still all determined to play the hero, and she's right, it probably is y-I mean Batman's influence. They see this guy all over tv rescuing people- making it look easy, and they wanna try it."

"Actually, as far as I can, most people see Batman and decide they want to try their hand at beating him up, I swear, the Jokerz get more recruits everyday."

Max shrugged, "maybe she was wrong, maybe seeing Batman just makes people wanna hit stuff."

"Do I need to remind you two that this is a study hall- the purpose is to study!" The teacher approached them and hissed at them.

"Right, sorry." Terry opened his computer and starting writing a paper, that was already a week over-due.

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"Terry, are you sure you're up for patrol tonight?" Bruce asked, as his protégé pulled on his gloves for his nights work. "You can take a night off,"  
"Sure, send out a newscast, 'Hey bad guys, Batman needs a few days off, so if you could please not commit crimes, that would be great. Batman will return in a few days to kick your butts.'" Bruce grimaced at him, not enjoying the joke.

"Just do your usual rounds then come in," he said.

"I was going to check out Maxwell tonight,"

"That can wait,"

"Bruce, I'm fine, seriously."

"You were limping,"

"There was a stone in my shoe."

"Just be careful," Bruce gave up arguing, that boy could be so stubborn!

"Anything?" Bruce asked over the intercom.

"No, pretty quiet night." Despite the calm, Bruce could hear the tension in Batman's voice, he didn't trust the calm anymore than Bruce did, but maybe just this once. As if the gods were purposefully angry at Bruce, or perhaps karma was just against Batman as an alarm went off on the computer.

"Fifth and main, the big diamond store,"

"I'm on it," Batman reversed the jet, streaking across the sky. "Be careful…"

"Don't tell me, hostages?"  
"The jeweler's family,"

"Same guys as last night?"

"Not sure, but be careful,"

"Right,"

Terry landed softly on the roof and looked around for an entrance, there was one, a window, it led directly into the room where the hostages were being held, he could see in through the window, a man, a woman, and two small children were crouched down behind the counter, as men with familiar uniforms and rocket launchers stood around the store. Oddly, they weren't stealing anything or even looking at the terrified family. They were waiting. Terry felt a cold hand around his heart, he knew they were waiting for him.

"Are you getting this?" He asked Bruce, "I think they're waiting for me."

"Be careful," was his mentor's only advice."

"Right…" Terry threw a smoke bomb in before entering himself. He then dove in through the smoke, and landed behind the counter with the family, "You're going to be okay," he assured them.

Then he sprang up and knocked the rocketman nearest the counter to the floor. The other men opened fire. Batman realized suddenly that they didn't care if they killed their comrade, as long as they got to him. He sprang out of the way with a series of acrobatic maneuvers, and one of them fired a whole through the wall, right near where the family was. Batman dove down and covered them as glass sprayed everywhere, mostly outward, but some fell inward, but at least now there was an escape.

"Go!" He told them, kicking away a few pieces of glass still hanging to the frame, then he dove back into the center of the room. The men were firing with careful precision, Batman's only break was that they had to reload after every shot. He managed to take out a second man by throwing him through a window, the window shattered. "I hope this place is insured…" he muttered to Bruce. That was two down, but the other two had slunk back into the shadows, he flew to the ceiling and went invisible, scanning the room. The family had gotten outside, except the youngest child, who still frozen in fear even as her mother tugged her hand. One of the rocketman was aiming right for her.

As if in slow motion Batman watched him pull the trigger, he hurtled downward and grabbed the child, throwing himself through the window, protecting the child and her mother from the blast, but the rocket hit him full in the back.

"Are you okay?" He asked, handing the child to her mother.

"We're fine,"

Batman turned back to the building. He knew the back of his suit had taken a direct hit, his wings were probably disabled. That was not good, but the main body of the suit was more strongly reinforced than the legs, so he was uninjured. He could tell the rocketmen had thought he was done, and were surprised when Batman swept back in. He could hear them muttering curses as the two remaining men struggled to reload quickly. He managed to kick the gun away from one, and secured him with a tie-batamarang when he turned to flee. One down- one to go.

He saw the man dart between the shadows and turned to follow him, and realized a moment too late he had miscalculated, an extra rocketman had been lying in wait. As Batman exposed himself to dive at the shadow the rocketman fired. It was a direct hit his side, and Batman was flung through several cases, bringing them crashing down on top of him.

"Batman!" Bruce yelled. Batman didn't have time to respond as he shot out of the debris and dove at the hidden rocketman. But then the other man stepped out of the shadows and hit him, with a second rocket, just as he was about to tackle the other man. Batman realized too late though, that the rocketmanand his calculations were off. His suit was damaged, his boots weren't firing as quickly, and it took him longer to reach the gunman than expected. The other man hadn't been counting on his slowed reaction times, and his rocket made direct contact with his companion, where Batman should have been.

The man stared stunned at what he had accidently done, before he could recover Batman went for him. The man gave in with little fight, either he had no experience with hand to hand combat or he care more about his companion than Batman had originally thought. But Batman didn't have time to brood. He limped towards the exit, trying to block out the pain in his shoulder and bad leg.

"Is there area secure?" Barbara approached him, the police had finally arrived. Batman nodded heavily.

"Uhh… Batman… you're bleeding…" One of the police officers stared at him. Batman glanced at his shoulder, the slight pain he had been feeling there turned out to be a piece of shrapnel buried in his arm.

"Everything okay in there?" Barbara asked, looking at Batman, clearly trying to see Terry's expression through the mask.

"One of the gunmen accidentally shot his own companion, I would suggest only sending in those with strong stomachs." Batman said, his voice even flatter than usual.

"You might want to get that taken care of," she motioned to his shoulder, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Right," Batman limped down an ally and disappeared.

Barbara called several police forward, "One of the men in there was killed by rocket fire,"

"We know Commissioner, we saw the vid screens."

"Did Batman…?"

"No, it was them shooting at their own guy, they were aiming for Batman and missed. But… it's pretty gruesome…"

"Alright, send in people to secure the scene."


	5. Chapter 5

"It wasn't your fault," Bruce was standing next to the plane as Terry arrived home. "I saw the whole thing, and Barbara saw it on the camera's as well."

"Right," Terry pulled off his mask, and slowly climbed out of the plane. Barely able to support his own weight. He sank down on the side of the plane, Ace hurried over to him, licking his face, whining when he tasted blood. Terry had a cut near his forehead, but to Bruce's eye, that was the least of his injuries, but at least the injuries he could take care of, he could do nothing to erase what Terry had just witnessed.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Terry got to his feet, and hobbled to the gurney, "Can you get this piece of metal out of my shoulder please?" He lay down and Bruce went to work.

"Is the kid alright?" Barbara appeared in the cave, as Bruce was trying to repair the badly damaged suit.

"He'll live,"

"We've all seen it… seen someone die… its not easy, but it happens… in this line of work. It wasn't the kids fault."

"I know, but what he saw…"

"Yeah… but his injuries? Is he really okay?"  
"He'll be feeling it for a few days, that arm's going to be sore for awhile."

Terry came down into the cave, wearing a sling, and limping. He wasn't wearing a shirt and Barbara could see the bandages on his ribs, and he had plaster a bandage on his forehead.

"Kind of late for a social call, isn't it?" He growled. Bruce looked up at Terry in surprise, but Barbara ignored his rudeness.

"How are you feeling kid?"

"Never better," he sat down at the computer, and began typing with his good hand. "That guy, he knew at exactly what speed I should have hit his partner, that's why he missed. These guys… they're after me. Why? Do we have any leads on them?"

"Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" Bruce asked him, as gently as he was able.

"Every time they've been waiting for me, the break-ins are just a lure," he was pressing more buttons, ignoring Bruce. "They wear those uniforms, but without any mark on them, right Commissioner?"

"The uniforms are like that of the Apache Gunmen, but that gang hasn't been active in years." Barbara told him, "They're leader was killed about fifteen years ago, rumor has it in-fighting has kept them off the streets." Bruce glared at Barbara for encouraging Terry.

"Well, looks like they've reorganized, and they have some serious cash flow. Do you think someone's using them as hired guns?"

"It's possible," Bruce said mildly.

"So I just have to figure out who…" Terry leaned back in his chair.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Well, I hope it was worth it, now one of my men is dead, I thought you said this plan was fool-proof!"

"Well, apparently you're men are bigger fools than I thought! Our bigger concern now is that Batman is not a moron, he's going to catch on sooner or later."

"It can be tomorrow for all I care, because my men and I, we're out."

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Terry!" Dana squealed when she saw him. He had given her a warning, Some Jokerz had jumped him and Wayne, and he had fought them off, but one of them had dislocated his shoulder during the fighting. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Dane, I'm fine, I promise." He gave her a kiss on the forehead, and put his good arm around her, trying not to wince as she hugged his very tender ribs.

"Hey Terry," Max was much more composed about seeing Terry rather banged up, but then she had seen him over the weekend, when he could barely move. "You're looking b-" She had been about to say better, because she had seen him over the weekend, but Terry shot her a look. "Bad," she finished lamely. Bruce had called Max to come and take care of Terry over the weekend- he couldn't cook and Terry could barely move, so Max had been called in- to pick up a pizza. But she had seen Terry right after the fight and he had looked much worse. Terry had refused to contact Dana, he didn't want her to see him looking terrible, this was bad enough. He told her had to go to a thing- out-of-state with Bruce.

"Max, you're not supposed to say that!" Dana exclaimed, Terry gave Max a look of gratitude over Dana's head, and Max winked when Dana looked away.

"Did the hero bite off more than he could chew?" A voice made Terry spin.

"Claire, hey, what are you doing here?" Terry tried to regain his composure.

"Claire?" Dana stared at the girl who had snuck up on them as she helped Terry get his books from his locker

"Dana, Max, this is Claire, she just moved here, she lives in my building, and is apparently going to school here now?" Terry looked at Claire curiously.

She nodded, "first day."

"Welcome to Hill High," Dana said, offering her hand to shake. Once she had gotten over her shock that this girl she had never seen before knew who Terry was, and there was a good explanation, Dana felt no further grudge against the girl. After the other girl had walked away Dana turned to him, "Hero?"

"She's obsessed with the idea that all the guys in the city have a thing about hero-complexes, cause of Batman."

"Oh, no, I think it's just you."

"How's that?"

"Please, Nelson Nash? He wet his pants that time he got attacked by that crazed-jungle guy."

"I'm no hero," Terry's eyes darkened.

"Mr. Wayne didn't get hurt right, you must have done something right." She was referring to the Jokerz attack she thought had taken place. If only she knew what Terry had really done. He kissed and hugged her.

"Thanks, for believing in me." She let Terry hold her, he seemed so vulnerable, more so than other times he'd been hurt or sick. More vulnerable than that time he'd gotten pneumonia(A/N: **Virus**) earlier that school year and he'd hardly seemed to notice the broken leg he'd gotten only a few months ago. She wondered if this had to do with Batman. She'd seen the report, the news camera had shown a body bag being taken away from the scene of the crime, even though the robo-reporter had said there were no citizen casualties. She'd never shaken that dream of him appearing as Batman. (A/N: **Virus**) Hero…? Claire's word came back to her. Did Claire know? No, that was impossible. He might not even be Batman. He _probably_ wasn't Batman. More than probably, very likely wasn't. She told herself to stop being silly. For one thing, his mother would never allow it. Besides, when would he have the time to be Batman?

XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Is that why you're not coming home?" Matt asked, pointing to the sling, as he climbed into the car. Terry told his mom that Bruce wasn't feeling well that week and he was staying at the manor so he could be on call 24/7, his mother didn't like it, she hated feeling like the old man was trying to steal her son, but if he needed Terry's help... And Terry had agreed to still drive Matt to soccer practice. He had to take Bruce's car, he couldn't ride his bike. And he didn't want his mom to see him injured- she didn't want to hear about him fighting anyone, even Jokerz.

"Do you know what this is?"

"DOOM DESTRUCTOR THREE!" Matt squeeled in delight as Terry held up a brand-new video game, that hadn't even hit the stores yet.

"Yeah, and it's yours, as long as you don't tell Mom,"

"Aww, alright." Matt agreed, he was used to keeping his brother's secrets. He wasn't sure why, he just felt that his secrets were important. "So what really happened?"

"I got jumped by a couple of Jokerz."

"And you got your ass kicked…" Matt looked disappointed.

"It was twenty against one, and don't worry, some of them looked a lot worse off than me." Matt looked like he didn't believe him, "and don't use language like that." He added, trying to sound authoritative.

"Bye Ter…" Matt said, climbing out of the car at soccer practice, but he remembered the video game. Terry sighed, he hated loosing face like that in front of his little brother.

**To all you Dana-haters:**

**Dana is not a bad girlfriend, she just doesn't like that she never gets to see Terry, but she's actually really nice, even though her friends are kind of obnoxious (the first episode featuring Willy Watt?) And c'mon you'd be pretty annoyed if you never got to see your boyfriend and he constantly stood you up and once you got abducted by a RatBoy(who she tried to be nice to) because he didn't show, it would get to you. That being said, I'm not saying they're going to say together through this entire fic- hint! hint! But I just wanted to write a note since I know there are a lot of Dana-haters out there.**


	6. Chapter 6

"So you were injured, and hid it from your mother. The question is, where o' where, did Terry hide?" Claire taunted him as he arrived home, for the first time in over a week.

"What's with you?" Terry asked, this girl was starting to seriously get on his nerves. She was always everywhere at once, and she was constantly sneaking up on him, which unnerved him, most people were not able to do that, no one actually. He was Batman, people do not sneak up on Batman.

"I was wondering now that you were healed, if you wanted to go hunting," she grinned at him, looking a little maniac.

"Are you joking?" Terry stared at her, and started towards his bike.

"No, I'm completely serious. Batman hasn't been seen in a week. The prey's been getting uppity. Gotta keep the populations down, that's the natural order of things."

"You keep tabs on this stuff? On Batman I mean?" Terry tried to sound offhand, as if bothering about Batman wasn't worth the time, he forced his heart to be steady, sure she would be able to hear it if it pounded too loudly.

"Of course, he's one of the greatest hunters in the world! I've been dying to get a look at him."

"I thought you hated Batman,"

"Are you kidding? I think he's amazing! I hate the posers who try to be like him."

"Don't I fall into that category, clearly I got beaten pretty badly. Bit off more than I could chew?" He quoted back to her.

"Yeah, but you didn't go down without a fight, and I don't think you're telling the whole story."

"Excuse me?"

"Rumor has it that you and your boss-guy or something got jumped by about twenty Jokerz, but I've seen you fight, you'd be able to handle that, easy. Besides, Jokerz never hunt in packs that big, most you ever get is seven, they fight too much amongst themselves, it's one their weaknesses. That and their reliance on their stupid gag weapons, strength over strategy."

"So, you're saying I lied? You're right, I forgot to tie my shoe, and tripped over my shoelace, and fell down the steps, very embarrassing. Didn't want people to know." Terry started to unlock his bike.

"No way McGuiness," He stood up and stared at her, something about her voice made his spine stiffen.

"Wow, you learned my last name, am I supposed to be impressed or something?" He tried to keep his voice casual, but he could see it in her eye, she knew she was challenging him, and it excited her.

"I've seen you move, I've watched you, even injured you move like a hunter, a fighter." He looked at her with his icy eyes, she smiled, "and you can see it in others too. A panther always knows a leopard." He knew she was talking about him, watching her. Okay, she didn't have a certain way of moving, that few ever obtained, a silent grace, balance and poise, it was subtle, she was right, you had to be a hunter to a hunter. Or be the hunted. At the moment he felt like prey, but he still stared at her, determined not to show fear. She smiled, "and you say you're not a hunter." She laughed then turned and walked away. "Anytime you're up for a little hunting just let me know."

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Can you try keeping him in jail this time?" Batman growled, after a rough fight Mad Stan was finally being escorted away by the police.

"I know," The Commissioner rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Least this time I didn't think you killed him…" She turned to look at Batman, but he was gone, which was probably for the best. Bruce had privately told her that Terry/Batman was still moody and anxious after the man's death, but at least he was back on patrol.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"So, will you do it?"

"Lady, I don't know who you are, and where you got this idea that Jokerz are killers for hire, but that's not our thing. We don't stand around waiting for Batsy to show up. Besides, rumor has it that the last guys you hired got blown up, and lady, we're not up for that. Now, can you see yourself out, or do you need someone to assist you?"

"Do you ever get tired of being a joke on the streets? No one takes your gang seriously, you spend your time picking on school children, you're no better than school yard bullies. Don't you want to do something real? I've heard it pays better than petty theft." And she threw a bag of creds onto the table.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Do you ever sleep?" Terry asked, he had gotten home late, but early enough to use the front entrance, unfortunatly Claire was there smoking a cigarette.

"Temper, temper, bad night?"

"You could say that," Terry growled, at least no socialites had gotten blown up. Still, he felt antsy around bombs, and Bruce was calling him in earlier than usual, he knew crime rates were going up in Gotham but he didn't really bother to protest. Maybe after the nightmares stopped.

"I know what will make it better,"

"What?" Terry asked, but he knew what she was going to say.

"How about a little hunting?"

"No," Terry said, but a part of him wanted. A part him wanted skin to skin contact, death closer, yet farther, with no rocket launchers, no suit, just him against a few dozen Jokerz. No restraints. Sure he _could_ kill someone, but just with his own strength, and he knew his limits. Sometimes the suit scared him, he knew how strong he was in it, and what if one day he pushed it too far? He woke up at nights from dreams where he delivered a wrong punch and the bad guy never got up. Flesh against flesh, bone against bone, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew he had hesitated, even though he had said no, and he knew Claire had seen it, "one vigilante is enough for any city." He told her firmly.

"We're not vigilantes, we're hunters. We show our faces." She met his eyes with her own.

"Right, and we can get arrested for assault." Terry stared her down.

"Not if they attack us first."

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

That night, Terry slept soundly, and the nightmares didn't come.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey Dana," Terry swooped in for a kiss, Dana giggled, startled but pleased by her boyfriend's cheerful mood.

"Hey Ter, what's up? You seem…"

"Happy?" Max interjected, staring at Terry hard, something about him was _different_ but she couldn't put her finger on it, it wasn't just his mood that had suddenly changed. It was nice to see him in a good mood, but it wasn't just that he was _happy_- it was more like he was maniac.

"Mind if I join you?" A tall, red head appeared at their lunch table.

"Hey Claire," Dana smiled, then frowned, as she saw her boyfriend look at the new arrival, she felt her own good mood darken. The two had exchanged a _look_- and from the expression Max's face she wasn't the only one who had seen it, but Terry's arms remained firmly fastened around her waist, and after greeting Claire he had gone back to nuzzling his girlfriend's neck.

"Terry… not in front of everyone!" Dana tried to push him away, slightly embarrassed, she could feel a blush rising to her cheeks. It wasn't like Terry to be so affectionate in public and people were looking at them. Claire smiled at them, and twirled her spaghetti around her fork; there was a knowing look in her eye as she watched Terry manhandle his girlfriend. "Ter, enough." Dana pushed him away and stood up, "I need to go do some work in the library, Max are you coming?"

"Be there in a sec," A flustered Dana walked away, rigid and uptight.

"McGuiness, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you'd better cut it out!" Max told him sharply.

"What?" his blue eyes were innocent.

"Whatever McGuiness, this-" she indicated Terry and Claire, "I'm not covering up." Terry and Claire giggled as Max went chasing after her friend.

"So they think?" Claire crunched down a carrot.

"Yup," Terry smiled and leaned back, "if only they knew the truth." He grinned at her.

"So, tonight?"  
"I'll be there, as soon as I get off work."

"Damn McGuiness, what do you do that keeps you out until all hours of the night?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," He grinned at her but she didn't smile at back at him. There was a lot about Terry McGuiness that needed puzzling out. Claire didn't particularly like puzzles- you couldn't beat a puzzle until it gave you all the answers you were looking for. Like, what did he do until all hours of the night? She knew he had some sort of after school job, and if she had asked around she probably could have found out what, but she felt no desire to talk to any of these pathetic, weak losers. And what was "Max" covering up about Terry? Max might have been acceptable, but she had so much fear. Claire hated people like that.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Terry… Terry… MCGUINESS!" Bruce shouted as Terry worked a punching bag with more vigor than Bruce had ever believed possible, he knew Terry's injuries still had to be bothering him. "Take it easy, you still have patrol tonight,"

"I know," Terry took a long drink from a bottle of water. "Is that all?" He looked at Bruce.

"No, it's not." Bruce told him scathingly, "there's a report on the news I thought you should see."

"Be right there," Terry said, turning back to the punching bag.

"NOW McGuiness!"

"Alright, alright…"

_"…And in other news, there are reports that new vigilantes have take to the streets, police got several different reports of Jokerz turning themselves in, saying that they had decided jail was safer than the streets. When asked to give a description of their assailants the Jokerz had no response. Only one commented that, 'Women in this city… stay away from them… they're never as helpless as they look.' Early speculation is that women are behind the suspected attacks. Numbers are still a little fuzzy, but its as possible that as many as forty different Jokerz turned themselves in last night, many with minor injuries, including broken noses and concussions."_

"Look's like someone's doing my job for me," Terry grinned, "makes my life easier."

"Beating Jokerz senseless isn't a joke McGuiness, ruffians or not, they are citizens and don't deserve to be victims of assault."

"What are you talking about? I beat Jokerz senseless all the time!"

"When they're committing a crime!"

"How do you know these guys weren't? You heard the quote- maybe they attacked a woman and she fought back."

"One woman fought off forty Jokerz? Or did suddenly every woman in Gotham learn self-defense?"

"They should make self-defense classes mandatory at schools, y'know, for women, here in Gotham."

"Terry, don't change the subject. If you know something about this…"

"Bruce, when I go after Jokerz I have pointy ears, and I don't think they're mistaking me for a woman in that outfit. Maybe that should be my new angle… go out in drag and wait for muggers to come after me… or is that baiting? Or does that fall under being 'undercover'- oh wait, since when have you or any of the Bats listened to the law?" Terry smirked at Bruce, "I'll keep an eye for some female super-heroes while I'm out on patrol. Did Wonder Woman loose any of her Amazonians recently?"

"No, but that's a good thought, I'll check with her. It would explain why all the Jokerz victims were male."

"They were? Interesting… That seems a little biased, only going after the men, some of those girls can fight just as well. Remember the DeeDees?"

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"I hired you and your men,"

"And?"

"And suddenly you don't have any men,"

"Look lady, most of the guys weren't part of my gang."

"You're all the same gang!"

"Sort of, but most of those guys were East Side, we're West Side Jokerz, and my men are all still here."

"I thought East Side was Tee territory," the lady scoffed.

"We were taking over new ground, the city's going to be ours."

"Just help me get the Bat,"

"You told me you had a plan for me, we're just the hired muscle. You're the brains lady."

"Some might aspire to more…"

"Lady, if I wanted brains I woulda stayed in school, but you know what? I got brawn, it works for me, and I got more brains than most, so _they-" _he indicated the Jokerz strewn about outside his "office"- "work for me. So quit your bitchen' and gimme the damn plans." She was starting to seriously regret this decision she decided, as she laid the plans out on the table, "I can't read this shit, you gotta explain it to me." She knew from the look his face he could probably read the plans no problem, he was just trying to make her suffer. His eyes were fixated on her chest for most of the lecture.


	8. Chapter 8

"I think it's about time I paid Maxwell a little visit…" Terry said, swooping his plane low, circling the building.

"Batman, don't you think you're being a little conspicuous?"

"Right," Terry pulled back.

"And easy on that engine, you've been revving all night."

"Sorry," he didn't sound very sorry. Bruce debated calling Terry back, it was clear the boy was still anxious after that encounter at the jewelry store, but still, he knew Terry would be unhappy, and he seemed to finally be feeling better, maybe a little _too_ good, but everyone had to cope their own way. Bruce knew that as well as anyone.

"The chemicals are stored in the East Wing Lot 12, got it?"

"Right,"

"There's a vent, should be big enough for you to get through. Shouldn't be too many guards," Bruce told him as Terry leveled the plane then leapt onto the side, staying behind the building's structural steel supports, so no one would see him. He glanced over and looked down.

"Look's awfully busy, for 11pm,"

"He's heard the city's cracking down on the substance's use, must be trying to move it out."

"Awful lot of security if that stuff's legal." Batman noted.

"Just be careful, it is toxic and flammable, and you do seem to have a penchant for fires."

"Hey! I've only burned down a few buildings!"

"Did you know they've started including Batman-related damages on the city budget? You get almost a billion creds a year,"

"Can I get whatever they don't spend as part of my allowance?"  
"I'll talk to the Commissioner about it, maybe, if it keeps you from destroying as much city property."

"I'm going in," A guard who had been standing near the vent's exit on the inside moved and Batman swooped in.

Inside he managed to render the first guard unconscious before he could set off an alarm. Below them, everyone remained productive, unaware that Batman was slinking closer. He caught site of Maxwell and moved in, invisible.

"Keep it moving, this needs to be out of here by morning. City inspectors are coming through," Maxwell was saying.

"You're paying overtime, right boss?" The head foreman asked.

"You got it, as long as this stuff is out of here."

"You know my men don't like moving this stuff, toxic chemicals and all, isn't this stuff illegal?"

"Aren't I paying you and your men twice your usual wages?"

"You're the boss,"

"Actually, I am." Batman became visible and swooped down over Maxwell, lifting him high into the air. "And I think its closing time." The guards opened fire on Batman.

"You idiots!" Maxwell's voice was a high pitched squeal.

"Hold your fire!" Batman yelled down to them, "you're more likely to hit him than me."

"Batman! What are you doing? Don't torture him!" Bruce told him as Batman wove dizzying circles over the entire scene.

"Oh, right." He opened his hand and Maxwell started to plummet towards the ground.

"BATMAN!" Bruce yelled in horror, just in time to see Batman grab the man out of the air and then set him down on the ground, handcuffing him. Maxwell leaned over and emptied the contents of his stomach, which Terry ignored. The guards stood around, still holding their guns and looking confused.

"So uh… does this mean we don't get paid?" The head foreman asked, as police swarmed up to the building.

"Uh yeah, I'm thinking it does," Batman said, picking up Maxwell and swooping out of the building holding him.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"MCGUINESS!" Bruce thundered at him as soon as he was back in the plane.

"What? I thought you'd be proud, no major damage, no one got hurt."

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Oh, that Maxwell thing? Thought I'd teach him a lesson."

"That's for the courts to do, not you!" Bruce said darkly. "Come in, you've been out enough tonight."

"Fine," Terry didn't bother protesting, besides the sooner he got back home the sooner him and Claire could hit the streets- where the real action was.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"The boy's on edge Bruce," Barbara said, putting down her cup of tea. She had spent several hours trying to interrogate a blubbering Maxwell, and wasn't able to get much out of him, as if the Jokerz the night before hadn't been bad enough.

"I know…" Bruce stared at empty space on the couch.

"I don't think its just what he saw, something else is going on."

"I know, I just don't know what."

"Do you think it's the other vigilantes?"

"Could be, but I doubt it. Why would a few men… or women rather," Bruce corrected himself, "get to him like this? They go after Jokerz, and Terry's always saying he'd rather not have to deal with the petty crime in this city."

"It's two, a male and a female, next time you send Terry out on patrol let him know."

"One of the Jokerz talked?"

"Yeah, but all he knew was that it was a man and a woman, they moved fast, no weapons."

"Going to send out a police bulletin?"

"Did I when Batman appeared?"

"No, but you thought about it, and this is different."

"It's all the same Bruce, there are no rules, you and both know this. If I go after these two…"

"You have to go after Terry too…"

"There's no proof the Jokerz didn't attack these two individuals first, forty Jokerz against two unarmed people…"

"They didn't attack all at once though, they could have taken them in small groups."

"Even so… Thanks for the tea Bruce, I'd better get back to the precinct, see if your friend Maxwell has calmed down at all."

"Right," Bruce sat on the couch for a long time, thinking.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks all of you who have been reading and reviewing! I had a request to reveal more about this woman who's been hiring people to kill Batman- I promise, more will be revealed soon…**

"Back for more?" Claire smiled, dropping her cigarette on the ground, and rubbing it out with her toe.

"Those things are bad for you, y'know." Terry smirked at her.

"Most fun things in life are bad for you, by the way, I was thinking maybe tonight we should even the score."

"Meaning?"

"I was thinking it might be time for the Tees."

"I'm assuming that isn't a golf metaphor."

"Golf?" Terry realized he had been spending too much time around the old man.

"Never mind,"

"Look, I was thinking, even though none of those Jokerz talked… maybe you and I should wear masks."

"I thought you said hunters don't hide." Beating up a few Jokerz was one thing- but masks? That would make them seem like vigilantes- not hunters. And having one masked identity was enough for Terry.

"They don't but… This isn't the jungle, there are different rules here."

Terry felt a strange tingling on the back of his neck- as if he'd heard those words before, or maybe even said them. He was suddenly getting the strangest sense of deja vu. Hunters. Prey. It all seemed a little too familiar…

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Terry launched a final Tee over his head and the big guy came crashing down in the middle of the a pool table, snapping it in half.

"Wow, I didn't think we could take this many at once," Claire said, kicking at the body of one prone figure. They had successfully taken out about thirty Tee's in their own territory, in their own lair- also known as an abandoned pool hall. Claire looked slightly pale.

"You alright?" Terry asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, let's get out of here, unless you wanna stick around till these guys wake up, go for round two." She grinned at Terry, but he noticed her eyes looked slightly lifeless, like the fire wasn't burning as brightly.

"Nah, that's alright." Terry laced his fingers and cracked his knuckles. They felt a little sore- but it felt good. Subtle pain like that he could handle. It wasn't getting blasted into a shelves with a rocket. This pain felt more real. He liked it, he flexed his knuckles again, just to feel the slight ache and the pain there took his mind off his shoulder, the wound from the shrapnel was still there. He rotated it to loosen it slightly. "Let's go, hungry?"

"Starved."

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Terry watched in astonishment as Claire wolfed down four orders of cheese fries, five burgers, two milkshakes, and a hot fudge sundae.

"Wow…" Terry just stared.

"Sorry, I was kind of hungry,"

"Yeah I noticed," he looked at her closely, she looked better, her eyes had regained their spark and she seemed less pale.

"Big fight didn't make you hungry?" She said nodding to the two bites Terry had taken out of his burger.

"Not really…" It was strange, food seemed very unappealing right now. He wanted to be able to move quickly, in case something happened, didn't want the feeling of anything slowing him down. He wanted to fight, if Claire hadn't looked so tired…

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Is she still mad at me?" Terry asked Max, when Dana was no more than perfunctory when he saw her in school.

"What do you think?" Max was cold.

"I think I didn't do anything wrong!" Terry protested, following Max even as she starting walking to class.

"Yeah right,"

"I didn't! Max, look at me. I swear I didn't cheat on Dana with Claire. Claire… it's not like that." He put his hand on Max's shoulder but she shrugged it off.

"Please Ter, I saw the way you were looking at her, they way you've been looking at her." For a moment Terry debated telling her about what him and Claire had really been up, but thought better of it.

"When you see Dana, tell her I'll call her after I get off work."

"Whatever McGuiness," Max walked away, and Terry sighed as he watched her go.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Vigilantes struck again?" Terry asked, as he went down into the cave the next night.

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Terry gave him a funny look.

"What's a kettle?"

"Never mind, they went after Tee's this time. When you go out tonight, keep an eye out for them."

"Will do. So… you've forgiven me?" Terry asked hesitantly.

"I didn't say that." Bruce said, "Don't ever again make any more mistakes like last night."

"I got it, I got it." Terry pulled on the cowl.

"Batman there's an alert- a northbound JW train has been hijacked by Jokerz!" Bruce sounded very alarmed.

"What? That's not their usual style… where's the train now?"

"It's on the monorail tracks near 72nd street and picking up speed," Bruce's voice was tense, and Batman knew why, a crash could kill hundreds of people.

"Right," Batman turned his plane and rushed toward the monorail. He landed on the roof of the leading car and jumped in through the emergency exit hatch. "Sorry, I'm crashing your party!" He told the three Jokerz he found there. He tried to block out the screams of the terrified passengers.

"That's alright, this is our stop!" The Jokerz rushed towards the exits, and leapt out, all except one who Batman caught.

"Why the hurry?" He pushed him up against the walls and then noticed the controls. The autopilot had been tampered with and the Jokerz had disabled the automatic breaking. This train was not going to stop. "Not a very funny joke," Batman said, tying up the remaining Joker.

"Who said anything 'bout a joke? Lady just told him to do it."

"What?" Batman whirled on the Joker but he didn't have time to play 20 questions, he needed to stop this train.


	10. Chapter 10

The Joker quivered under Batman's gaze, wondering if the Bat was considering hurling him out the door, but Batman's mind was elsewhere, looking at the jammed brakes.

"Batman… you're going to have to stop the train manually."

"I know," Batman hissed. He and had Bruce had run this simulation before, but doing it on a real train, with hundreds of screaming passengers would be totally different. It had always been his worst nightmare.

"Get to the roof and establish and upload link, I'll contact Max," Bruce told him. From her computer, Max would be able to stop the train instantly, anywhere on the tracks.

"Right,"

"Hurry, if the train picks up any more speed…"  
"I know!" Batman said, leaping to the roof of the train. His boots held him onto the roof tightly, but he had to reach the third car, where a central control system was. He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled forward slowly, gripping with his "claws", inching forward slowly, the wind was driving him backward, he wasn't making headway fast enough. Slag it. He got to his feet.

"Quit wasting time!" Bruce yelled at him."

"I know!" Batman yelled back. He released a grapnel and shot it into the room of the third car then let jumped down beside the train. Passengers gasped as Batman shot passed the car window, then cringed as they heard the thud of him landing. He had swooped down past the car in a wide arc, using the momentum to swing himself upward onto the third car.

Batman had crashed down hard, but managed to hold on, and crawled towards the control box. Inside, he found the correct wire, he thanked Bruce, but not out loud, for having made him run this simulation a thousand times.

"It's on,"

"Good, Max is hacking the upload link now, but you need to slow the train, it's going to halt suddenly, and the passengers…"

"I'm on it," On the last car was a manual brake, he could slow the car gradually before Max brought it to a complete stop. He prayed he could get the timing right. The cars were moving too fast, screeching around turns, threatening to toppled over, but if they stopped suddenly the passengers would be hurled forward very violently, there could be severe injures. Several news teams had taken to the sky and were swarming around watching Batman attempt the impossible.

He had to get to the last car. His grappling hook trick wouldn't work this time, it was too far. Just then he spotted an overpass. The train whirled underneath. Batman shot upward and grabbed a low hanging rail. The train raced by underneath him. He dropped, almost a second too late. He slid across the roof of the car, and just managed to hang on, dangling below the roof. He managed to pull himself upright, arms straining as the train seemed to be trying to shake it. It was rattling hard against the tracks at such high speeds. He climbed up, and crawled to the braking box, and flipped a switch.

At first there was nothing, then slowly, the train began to slow, he could feel it.

"Batman,"

"Yeah…" He panted.

"Is it?"

"It's slowing,"

"Not fast enough, you're fast approaching another train."

"What?"

"You're going to need to slow it more," Batman didn't need to ask how.

"You're going to have use the suit's enhancers," Bruce said slowly.

"Right," The enhancers had been installed several months earlier, but Batman had never activated them, they could increase the suit's strength up to tenfold, but the toll they took on his body was too much. He was training with the them, but he almost never needed them, and there was of course the danger of having too much strength.

Batman dropped holding the side of the car, and flicked on the enhancers. To the outside observer, the suit started glowing slightly red. He dropped more and let his feet hit the tracks. Then he dug his heels in, grabbing the back of the train and tried to stop it, Superman style. He knew he could only slow it a little, but with Max working as well. Seconds ticked by, his entire body was screaming now, his shoulders he felt sure were about to dislocate, then suddenly the train stopped.

Batman didn't realize and got flung forward slightly, hitting his head against the train, and then falling backwards. He lay on the tracks, watching as rescue choppers swooped in, he could barely move.

"I'm sending the Batmobile to pick you up." Bruce told him.

"Right," Batman croaked, getting to his knees as the Batmobile appeared overhead. He brought it down to his level, his arms were too weak and shaken, he couldn't even make a fist.

"I'll put it on autopilot,"

"K…" Batman said. The moment he was inside he pulled of his mask and gasped for air. The suit, that normally felt like a second skin was choking him.

"Good job Ter," he heard a voice, it was Max, she was on the vid monitor.

"Thanks," his voice was scratchy and hoarse, "you too."

"What was that?" She asked.

"Suit enhancement, a little super strength never hurt anyone." He managed a weak smile.

"'Cept you."

Terry would have shrugged but his arms hurt too much, "The passengers?"

"No injuries, but that last Joker got away." Bruce told him, abruptly cutting Max off. Slag it. Terry had totally forgotten about him. As if reading his mind, Bruce, said, "don't worry about it, you did a good job out there today."

"The guy… he mentioned something… about a she telling a he… or something…" Terry mumbled as the plane swept back towards the manor.

XxX XxX XxX XxX

Bruce was there to help him out of the plane, Terry leaned against him heavily. "I'm okay…" he rasped.

"The suit…"

"Is even stronger than we thought, I could take Superman on in that thing." Terry joked weakly.

"Are you hurt?" Bruce asked.

"I can barely move my arms, but I don't think they're injured."

"Let me give you something for the pain," Bruce helped Terry to the gurney and lay sat him on, Terry winced every time he tried to move his arms. "Are you sure you're not injured?" Bruce asked him again.

"I'm sure," Terry said, wincing as he felt a needle near his shoulder blade, then another one on the opposite side.

"That will loosen your muscles and numb your nerves for awhile, but you might not be able to feel much."

"Thanks," Terry said, already feeling the muscles in his arms relax.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

By the time Terry got home, his arms felt like jelly. He groaned as he thought about the five page English essay he was supposed to type, maybe Max would help him out.

"Hey there," Claire stepped out of the shadows, Terry cursed silently to himself. He had really been hoping to avoid her tonight. He could barely make a fist, much less throw a punch.

"Hi," Terry said, looking around nervously.

"You seem antsy,"

"Yeah… I just… my mom, I told her I'd be in early tonight."

"And you of course still listen to your mother," Claire mocked him.

"I do,"

"And here I was hoping for a little fun," She circled him, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. Terry knew her hand was there but he couldn't feel it. "You feel kind of tense to me," she told him. That was funny, he felt like melted rubber.

"Ahh… my boss had me moving a lot of heavy furniture for him to day, really took a lot out of me." He yawned to emphasize, barely able to move his arm to cover his mouth. He felt like he was holding fifty pound weights in each hand, if he knew where his hands were…

"Pathetic…" Claire circled him gain, this time running her finger along his chest. "I can think of something else we could do…" Her eyes looked up at him, glowing softly, her hair, illuminated like a halo, her lips, so soft and kissable.

"Claire… stop." He pushed her away, "you know I'm with Dana right?"

"Of course you are," she purred, "but we're hunters, one mate is never enough."

"I gotta go," Terry turned and spun on his heels, leaving Claire behind him, glaring.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hmmm… Everyone's getting really impatient about who the mysterious woman is, but since I'm not yet ready to reveal her secret all give you all a hint- she is a character of my own creation and not from the BB universeand yes she is connected to Claire. There, that was two hints!**

**Thanks everyone for the great reviews!**

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"So Batman looks like a hero… and I have NOTHING! You promised me results!"

"No way lady, my men did what you told them to do. You just weren't counting on Bat Boy having a little extra juice."

The woman's hazel eyes flashed angrily, "will your men be ready for another operation or not?" She snapped.

"They're ready, they're ready," The Joker said, annoyed as the woman doubted his Jokerz once again.

"Right, we strike again tomorrow. Hopefully Batman won't have recovered enough to use that new trick of his." The woman grimaced, annoyed. This was taking far longer than expected. Batman needed to die, and she needed to get out of Gotham.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"You're not seriously considering going out there!" Bruce said, as he watched a very sore Terry dress in the Batsuit.

"I'm fine, I've gone out in worse condition," Terry told him, stretching his arms.

"I think the city could spare you for one night. Even those two new vigilantes took a night off," Bruce gave him a wry smile, which Terry didn't return, he just grimaced.

"Yeah," Bruce shot Terry a curious look, but Terry ignored him and pulled on his gloves. His arms hurt every time he bent even a finger.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Quiet night…" Terry said, feeling antsy.

"You'll jinx it,"

"Good," Terry growled.

Bruce sat back in his chair, and tapped his fingers together, staring at the screen as he watched Terry drive the BatMobile around, far too fast. He thought that Terry had gotten over whatever issues he'd been having. One moment the boy was completely there, the next he was a thousand miles away, unreachable, unreadable, and worse, unpredictable. Bruce knew he was guilty of many of the same things, but he would never have hurt someone on purpose. He was worried how far Terry might go. Terry was Batman, not those two people who went out at night just to hurt others.

Last night Terry had been Batman. Tonight, he was an enigma. An enigma in a very powerful suit, even hurting, he was a dangerous force.

"Why don't you just call it a night? And come back here for some training?" Bruce suggested mildly.

"If I'm too hurt to fight, how can I train?" Terry snapped.

"There is more to training than just strengthening the body," Bruce replied softly, feeling suddenly like he was dealing with a caged tiger, "And if something comes up I'll send you back out."

"Right," Terry wasn't happy, but he turned the plane around and headed for the Bat cave.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Bruce watched his young protégé who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his face calmer than Bruce had seen it in weeks. Bruce could almost feel the peace settling around the boy as he sat calmly, hopefully his mind as quiet as the cave.

The meditation had been a last ditch effort on Bruce's part, he had done it himself often enough and felt that Terry could benefit from it. If anyone needed peace of mind, it was the boy. Secretly Bruce was kicking himself for not having taught the boy these techniques sooner. How much else was there that he had never taught the boy? That he had never had time to teach him? With the others it was different. For one thing, he had been out there on the streets with them. And it had always felt like he had more time, with Terry there was never enough time. Maybe he hadn't had enough time with the others, but he hadn't known that of course, until it had been too late. Still, the others had never been through half of what Terry had been through.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"You came home early tonight," Claire smiled at him.

Terry just shrugged, her words seemed a thousand miles away as he struggled to snap out of the trance he had been in, "Yeah, I guess."

"Up for a little action?"

"Wha-?" Suddenly the calm inside him snapped, he remember the rage, the helplessness, the need to do something, anything, the need to hunt down the bad guys, "Yeah," his voice became gruff. "Jokerz or Tees?"

"Jokerz!" Claire said quickly, maybe too quickly, but Terry didn't notice.


	12. Chapter 12

Commissioner Gordon dropped a small disk into Bruce's hand, "here are your vigilantes."

"You caught them on tape?"

"Yes, they stopped some Jokerz outside of a bank, the security video caught them."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"Just watch it." Then she turned and walked away.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"What?" The woman stared at the Joker and seethed, "what are you telling me?"

"I'm telling you, I did't have enough men for tonight, in a few days I can round enough up."

"You idiot! Right now, Batman is injured and too weak to use that supercharge for his suit. In a few days he will be healthy!"

"Well, then tell who ever attacked my men last night not to do that again! They got a whole bunch, we thought we were safe 'cause they'd taken a night off an'…"

"Did your men mention me?" She was not in the mood to hear the Jokerz petty complaints.

"How should I know?"

"That attack on the train was all over the news- that Jokerz were behind it. Did any of them mention me to Batman?"

"I dunno…"

"Moron… tomorrow the operation goes forward as planned. I suggest you have your men ready."

"You're asking me to pull together over two hundred men, it's not easy."

"Then I suggest you keep your boys off the street tonight, and tell them to get a good night's rest."

"That's not going to be easy… they're all out to get these two punks that have been taking us down…"

"Well, they won't be able to, so tell them not to bother. Besides, they have a chance to take down Batman himself."

"Batman hasn't made it personal, Batman doesn't just attack us. And what makes you so sure we can't take them down?"

"Trust me on this,"

"They're out to get us because of you? Aren't they?"

"Do I want, and I'll be out of your hair. I leave, they leave too."

"Lady, I don't like you."

"Not many people do." She smiled, and the Joker shivered.

**Sorry, I know you waited forever and this chapter was short- I'll make it up to you! (although a few reviews might help the process hint hint)**


	13. Chapter 13

Bruce watched the tape, watched the two blurs of figures streak across the camera, everywhere and nowhere at once, the moved at almost super-human speeds. He knew they weren't really, it had to be some sort of trick of the light. The Jokerz who were swiftly taken care of moved at normal speeds, the two figures just seemed to blur around them, as if they weren't really there at all. As if somehow the scenery was blurred. Like a perfect picture with smudge marks on every frame. He'd been watching the video ever since the Commissioner had handed it to him the day before, and no amount of enhancement had made it any clearer.

"What's that?" Terry asked.

Bruce almost jumped, "Not important," he took the video off the computer monitor and met Terry's piercing gaze. _Why had he jumped when Terry came in? Why didn't he want Terry to see the video? _"Those vigilantes struck again last night."

"I know, everyone on the news was asking where I was. Apparently they stopped a bank robbery."

"The robbery wasn't yet in progress,"

"Oh,"

"Terry, these two… they're not heroes, they are just out there hurting others."

"They're hurting Jokerz and Tees, those guys hurt people all the time."

Bruce shook his head, "it has never been our place to say what's right and wrong,"

"Oh please, don't give me that. When have you ever obeyed the law? I stop the bad guys while they're breaking the laws, what's wrong with a little prevention?"

"How do they know those Jokerz were going to rob the bank?"

"Didn't the news broadcast say they were?"

"And these two watched the news?" Bruce asked sarcastically, "I believe they would have attacked those Jokerz regardless of the Jokerz intentions."

"But you don't know that! They might have known!"  
"Those weren't the only Jokerz they attacked last night, that was just the only attack reported. The Commissioner is trying to keep these two under wraps, until we know more."

"We?"

"I want you to keep an eye out of them,"

"If no one in the city except the Jokerz have seen them, how do you expect me to find them?"

"Like I've told you before, you're not everyone."

"I'll get right on it,"

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Any sign of them?"

"No, I've been trying to locate Jokerz, but I can't find any."

"There aren't any Jokerz out?"

"No,"

"That's strange,"

"Perhaps those two convinced them to stay in,"

"That seems unlikely, if anything I'd think they'd be out in force, stay sharp."

"Right,"

"We have an alarm,"

"Finally, a little action."

"That's strange,"

"What?"

"It's an abandoned warehouse, I didn't think they even had an alarm system, it could be a trap."

"Are you suggesting I avoid it?" Batman had already turned the plane to the coordinates that had automatically been sent to his computer.

"No, I'm suggesting you be careful."

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Batman dropped silently onto the roof the building, and looked down. There was nothing beneath him, everything was dark. "I can't see anything, and my night vision won't work through this glass."

"Then go in for a closer look but…" Bruce's next words were cut off as the roof under Batman suddenly broke, no it didn't break. It exploded. Batman, caught off guard, started to fall, but quickly righted himself and flew onto a large stack of boxes inside the compound. "Batman!"

"I'm fine," Batman hissed, annoyed by the accident. Thin moonlight shone through the hole, casting an eerie white light around the center of the large room, piles of boxes stood everywhere and Batman was certain he heard the squeaks of bats, but told himself that was impossible. There might have been old machinery, squeaking. "This place looks abandoned. Are you sure the alarm came from here?"

"The ceiling just exploded under you, I think you're in the right place." As if in answer to his question a rocket suddenly appeared from nowhere. Batman barely had time to react as he leapt off the pile of boxes. They fell out from under him, scattering across the floor. Breaking open their contents, the air was suddenly filled with smoke. Batman coughed and flew upwards.

He heard the whoosh of more rockets coming for him, but in the thick smog he couldn't see. He flew upwards. From behind him two rockets collided, and the explosion hurtled him through the air. He just managed to right himself when another rocket appeared suddenly in front of him, he dove behind a large pile of boxes and the rocket hit them, spraying their content outwards. The force knocked Batman backwards into a wall.

"Batman!" There was no room to maneuver, and he started to fall, so he shot forwards into boxes that were in front of him. A rocket hit one of the boxes and shrapnel flew outwards. Something large and heavy hit Batman's head and he fell to the ground.

His visor was blinking in and out, he shook his head to clear it. It had been a hard fall, nearly fifty feet. "Batman!"

"Yeah?" He groaned.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so…" Then he looked around. From out of nowhere a herd, no an army of Jokerz was circling around him. There had to be a hundred or more, all brandishing weapons, all smiling. Batman got to his feet and readied himself for a fight.

The circle tightened around him, and he looked for a way out. He saw beyond the circle a group of Jokerz lay in wait, all armed with rocket launchers. He had been lured here, and he was going to die here.

**Yay! A longer chapter! For you guys who are awesome and give me lots of reviews!**

**Awhile ago someone asked me how long I thought this story was going to be… I think about 20 chapters. **

**Oh, and for those of you who have been secretly waiting for the return of characters from the series… just wait… hint hint**

**PS Sorry for the cliffie!**


	14. Chapter 14

The circle tightened around him, the Jokerz were organized and coming at him in groups. Batman kicked and punched, but no matter he threw off, there were instantly more to replace them. Batman barely had time to gather his thoughts. He had been lured here, that much was clear. These guys were working for _her_. Where were the rocket launchers?

Batman leveled a round kick and realized suddenly that there were only about twenty Jokerz left. He knew he had not taken them all down, some had left, where had they gone?

He did a backflip to get away from the twenty and looked around, panting. Bruce had stayed silent on the line, he knew he couldn't help Batman, and speaking to him might put him in worse danger.

Suddenly a smell reached Batman's nostrils, the dark metallic smell of gas. And from somewhere behind the boxes he heard the crackling of a fire. In a moment in connected, but it was a moment too late.

The Jokerz grinned at him and approached him, but there were only ten of them suddenly. Where had the other's gone? He leapt upwards, trying to escape, but something grabbed his ankle and hurled him hard onto the floor. A Joker he hadn't seen earlier came forward, wearing enormous electronic arms. Then from his other sides, three more came into view, the ten Jokerz he had seen were suddenly gone.

"You didn't plan this did you?" He growled as he faced down his opponents.

"Naw, our anonymous benefactor did, but well, we were more than happy to help." One smiled and punched, Batman ducked out of the way and tried to go for his attacker's legs but two of the arms suddenly extended and grabbed him by both wrists, and raised him high in the air. One let go, Batman struggled to get free as the arm suddenly whirled him around like he weighed no more than a rag doll and smashed him into the ground.

"Batman!" Bruce yelled, no longer able to hold his silence, and frightened for Batman's life- no Terry's life- but to both the voice was far away, and unimportant. The arms hauled him upright, and grabbed his free arm. Two other arms grabbed his legs and a fifth delivered punch directly to his gut. His breath came out in a gasp, and he was certain he heard several ribs snap, or was that his spinal cord? Then there was a roundhouse to his head.

"I'd leave if I were you…" Batman heard a female voice say, from somewhere, as the figures dropped him onto the ground.

"Oh, right boss." They pointed their arms towards the ground and shot upwards towards the ceiling, propelled by rockets from their iron fists. The air was beginning to get chocked with smoke. Batman tried to breathe but the air only seemed to sear his lungs.

"Terry!" Bruce called frantically.

"I'm here…" he groaned.

"Are you hurt?"

"Uh…" He tried to sit up, but just doubled over in pain, "yeah… but Bruce, I'm in bigger trouble…" The air was getting hotter.

"Batman!" A voice appeared from out of nowhere. Batman looked around trying to place it, it seemed familiar somehow, but strangely that thought wasn't comforting. Suddenly a tall figure appeared out of the flames.

"Stalker…"

"I told you before… you would die by my hand, and my hand alone." A part of Batman wanted to sigh, if it hadn't hurt to breathe, people had been repeating past sentiments a lot today.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Batman stared at Stalker through bleary eyes, he was leaning up against some sort of stairway watching the warehouse he had just exited burn to the ground, as firefighters rushed to put out the fire.

"I think I owe you my thanks," Batman rasped out.

"Are you badly injured?" Stalker asked.

"I'll live," Batman said, although he wasn't sure at the moment. Bruce had stayed incommunicado on the transceiver, but Batman knew he was listening. "Why are you here?"

"I need your help to find someone…"

"Who?"

"My daughter…"

…**bet you can guess who that might be…**


	15. Chapter 15

**Don't worry- this story will be finished… Eventually**

"What makes you think I can help you?"

"She is here, in Gotham, following her mother."

"What a nice family reunion," Batman muttered, "what makes you think I can help?"

"This is your jungle," Batman looked out over the dark landscape, it did look sort of like a jungle, or maybe that was just his addled brain talking. "But tonight, you are in no condition to fight, although I do not believe any of your injuries to be life threatening."

"Good to know…" Batman grunted as he tried to move, he had been wondering if any of his internal organs had been left in tact.

"Tomorrow we hunt." Then Stalker was gone.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Bruce was waiting by the landing pad when the plane came in and he helped Terry out of it. "Terry, are you alright?" His eyes searched Terry's face anxiously.

"I'll live," Terry tried to take a few steps but faultered, Bruce caught him and helped him lie down on the medical table. "Do we know anything… about… his… daughter…" Terry gasped, as he tried to take off the suit, every little movement sent searing pain through him. He finally managed to get the top half off, and lay trying to catch his breath. Bruce came over to examine him.

"No, I've been looking through the databases."

"And tonight's attack…any…ow! Idea who…" Terry winced and gasped, "was behind it?"

"Those electronic arms did some damage, but I don't think anything's broken."Terry didn't really believe him but he lay on the table, for a moment, no extra pain being induced felt really good, despite the waves of pain that kept rolling over him with every heart beat and breath. He thought he might be sick.

"Don't fall asleep, I think you might have a concussion,"

"Stalker's expecting me tomorrow,"

"You're in no condition to fight,"

"Bruce, that attack tonight, someone is out to get me, on the train too, Jokerz are not that organized."

"I know,"

"And some how Stalker knew to be there tonight. I think he knows something about these attacks. I think I should help him." Terry sat up, trying to ignore the way the room was spinning.

"You trust him?"

"Who, Stalker? This is twice now he's saved my life. I know he only saves it so he can give me an "honorable" death- but still… The idea of him having a daughter is kind of creepy though. Anyway we can do a search for her?" Terry grimaced and put a hand over his ribs. He was going to hurt tomorrow.

"I've tried, there's an account which he has put a good deal of money into over the past several years, but I have yet to be able to locate who ever has been claiming the money."

"Think it might be his daughter?"

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

She sat, tense, drumming her long elegant fingernails against the polished wood of the desk. She was angry, Stalker had saved Batman! That wasn't fair! She hadn't saved him when Stalker had been trying to kill him. Then again, Stalker might not have known it was her handiwork, Jokerz really were beneath her. He was probably just here for Claire.

The attacks had her name written all over them. Claire knew she was here. That's why she had started going after the Jokerz. Why did Claire even care? So what if she killed Batman? Why was Claire helping him? Even indirectly. Probably she was just trying to make her mother miserable. She sighed, while many argued she was incapable of any feeling, Claire was her one soft spot, she could never hurt her daughter.

Victoria stood up and walked to the large window and looked out over Gotham. Dawn was just starting to arrive. Dawn was her favorite time of the day. It always felt like a new beginning somehow. Like it could watch away the sins of her past, but this sky looked tainted, too dark to be a dawn, because _he_ was out there. She had no weak spot for him like she did for their daughter, if she ever saw Stalker, her once-upon-a-time-lover, she would kill him.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Sorry Claire, not tonight," Terry said as he walked towards the apartment.

"Geez, what the hell happened to you? You look terrible."

"Nothing, just a long day,"

"Are you sure it's not something a little hunting could fix?" She smiled at him, Terry looked at her. Her face. He had seen it before. Something about it was familiar, like he had seen it before, just not on her. No, that was the concussion talking, his thoughts weren't making any sense, and he had a headache. That was definitely the concussion.

"Not tonight," he repeated.

"Whatever," her smile was replaced by a face of stone. Suddenly Terry saw it. He knew who she was. The high cheekbones, those eyes, how had he not seen it before? Maybe if she had been bald…

"I have to go," he limped into the building.

**a/n**

**Victoria and Claire are both o/c's**

**Stalker appeared in two episodes- I forget the title. In one he kidnaps Terry's brother as an attempt to get Batman's attention. Then he appears again to help track down a virus that Nelson Nash has unwittingly carried into Gotham.**


	16. Chapter 16

"Are you alright?" Dana asked, not that she cared. Terry's mood had been so unpredictable recently, but today he was in a darker mood than ever. She hadn't heard him speak more than two words, and most of his responses were some variation on a guttural grunt. "Terry, I need to talk to you."

He looked at her, his light eyes looked sunken under heavy bags, "What's up?"

Dana took a deep breath and braced herself, she had practiced this speech a thousand times, but as she looked into his eyes, she couldn't bring herself to say what she wanted to say, instead she blurted out, "are you cheating on me with Claire?"

Terry's eyes flew open, "What? Is that what you think?"

"No… I don't… I just…" She quivered under the harsh gaze he gave her.

"I don't have time for this," he stood and strode away.

"Terry, I'm sorry!" She called after him, but he didn't look back.

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"Dana thinks I'm cheating on her with Claire,"

"Well, are you?" Max's voice was cold.

"Claire is Stalker's daughter," Terry said in a low, soft voice.

"What?"

"He found me last night, he told me."

"Stalker did?"

"He saved my life," he lifted his shirt to reveal the discolored bruises all across his abdomen, Max winced.

"Do you think Claire has something to do with those vigilantes who have been attacking Gotham?"

"I don't know," Terry lied, to implicate Claire would mean incriminating himself.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea," Terry admitted. He still had so many questions that needed answering. Who was out to get him? Did she have something to do with Claire? Claire had begun insisting they only go after Jokerz, as if she knew that somehow they were being used in the plots against Batman. Did she know? How did Stalker know to come last night? Did he have something to do with the attacks? If he did, they why did he save Batman? He felt a headache, lack of sleep combined with his injuries made him feel weak. Claire, was no where to be found that day in school, did she know Stalker- no her _father-_ was looking for her? Or had she found her mother? Following her mother? Was her mother the woman? Terry felt dizzy suddenly, and had to sit down.

"Terry? Terry?" Max was yelling at him.

"Sorry… I…I have to find Claire."

"Max? Have you seen Terry? I said some stuff… I wanted to apologize…"

"Terry? He just took off… I think he wasn't feeling well…"

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

"You think Stalker and this woman are connected?"

"More than connected, I think they're Claire's parents,"

"Who's Claire?"

"Uh…" Terry froze, he had never mentioned Claire to Bruce. Too afraid he might learn the truth, "Stalker's daughter,"

"And how do you know who Stalker's daughter is? The searches we did last night turned up nothing…" Terry looked away, Bruce looked at him coldly. "She's our vigilante isn't she?" Terry nooded, "And I can only guess at who her accomplice might be."

"Bruce… I…"

"Just go, we need to find Claire, perhaps we can find her mother. Stop her, before she kills Batman." The way Bruce was looking at him, Terry could read the unspoken words- _if he's not already dead._

XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX XxX

Batman slipped open the window to Claire's apartment and flicked on his night vision, the room was in pitch black. With his enhanced vision he saw the room had been ransacked, furniture was broken and overturned, there was a ripped sheet. But something felt off, he ran his finger along the edge of a dislodged couch, there was a thick layer of dust. No one had been here for some time.

"She's not here," he whispered, just in case.

"Sure this is her apartment?"

"Yeah, she told me the number once." He straightened up just as something metal clanked him in the head and swept him from his feet. He fell but rolled to the side. A metal pole, which was on fire at both ends was being whirled through the dark air. As Batman the flames circle, he leapt to his feet. He stumbled backwards over the furniture slightly, but righted himself. The flame passed in front of the attacker's face, it was Claire.

"I vowed to help you Batman, don't make me kill you." She said.

"That's why you've been attacking Jokerz," Batman dove out of the way, and fired a batarang at her, but she knocked it from the air, and advanced on him.

"Who told you that?"

"A little birdie," Batman responded sarcastically and launched into the air, he meant to come down behind her, but she was too quick, her weapon reached for him, but he grabbed it and used it to get close enough to kick her chest, she staggered backwards, but did not loose her grip, rather it seemed to strengthen and she was able to swing it hard. It was a heavier piece of metal than it seemed at first glance as she whirled it like a baton. Batman suddenly had new appreciation for this girl's strength. How had he never noticed before? Had she held back?

"You're father is looking for you,"

"Of course he is, but I have unfinished business in Gotham."

"Your mother?"

The fire-baton slowed for a moment, "How did you know?" Then quickly regained its speed, "Oh, of course, my father must have told you. And I'm sure he also told you that my mother is trying to kill you."

"And you've been helping me, why?"

"Do I need a reason?" The baton slowed slightly, the whoosh of its speed became like a metronome.

"Not really," Batman did a back flip and flipped his belt to invisible.

"Hiding are we?"

"No, I just don't want to fight you." Batman worried that if they fought, she might recognize him. Not that he was in any condition to fight, another fact he didn't want her knowing.

"Of course you don't… you know I'm helping you."

"I'm here because your father told me to find you,"

"Why would you help him?" She growled.

"I'm returning a favor," Would Batman have helped Stalker if Stalker hadn't saved his life last night? If Stalker hadn't saved him, of course, he wouldn't even be around to ask that question.

"I see- so you're not here to tell me that vigilantism is your game? And that a little girl shouldn't be mixed up in it?"

"You're Stalker's daughter, I'm sure you're more than capable of fending for yourself,"

From below, Batman could here her laughter, "You think _he_ is the one who gives me my strength. You really have no idea what my mother's capable of do you?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

"You do realize she's going after you to a prove a point,"

"To who?"

"To Stalker of course, to prove that while he cannot kill you, she can. I'm sure she's very frustrated that thus far she has been unable to do so. And if she was stopped last night by Stalker, well, there's probably going to be hell to pay."

"And let me guess, you think I'll be paying it?"

"Most likely, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"If you asked real nicely, I might be able to assist you."

"What do you want in return?"

"You tell my father you never found me,"

"He probably already knows, he probably followed me here."

"Then we should go and meet him." Claire stepped into the light near the window, the flames from her pole vanished. "Stalker!" She cried out, then lept from the window. Batman swooped in to catch her, only to realize she had used the metal stick as a vaulting pole. Just like her father. Batman followed her across the rooftops as the sun sank in the sky.

**Two chapters in one day- Go me!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry this took so long- I wasn't even going to finish but then I got so many great reviews I felt I owed it to all of you!**

"Stalker," Claire said, as she landed lightly on the roof and faced her father. Batman landed beside her, ready to make a move if looked like either was about to strike the other. Not that he was sure he could be quick enough.

"You are here for your mother,"

"As are you,"

"I think we have different purposes in mind," Batman was sure Stalker almost smiled.

"She'll kill you, she won't kill me."

"A small price to pay for your safety,"

"She can't hurt me Stalker!" Claire said, "And she won't."

"She will one day grow tired of your 'games' and she will kill you," Stalker's voice was even.

Claire tossed her head proudly, "And by then I will be strong enough to take anything she can throw at me. She hasn't even managed to kill Batman yet!"

"Hey!" Batman said.

"She would have succeeded last night, he owes his life to me," Stalker's eyes narrowed.

Claire glared at her father, "Don't you think I know that? That's why I've been helping him!"

"He doesn't let you fight alongside him as Batman,"

"I'd never even seen Batman until he busted into my room!"

"That's impossible, Batman knows you. I smelled your scent on him. That's why I asked for his help. I knew he would lead me to you."

"We've never met," Batman growled.

"I saw you two fight together just a few nights ago!" Stalker said.

"I was with Terry! Terry isn't Batman! I had used an illusion, that's why you thought it was Batman."

"That's why I could never find you…" Batman said, pretending he had been searching for her, and not hunting alongside her.

"Of course, I like my mother possess psychic abilities. I made sure all security recordings of my hunt were blurred, and no one could see me hunt. I protected my companion as well."

"Batman?"

"No, Terry."

"Who is Terry?" Stalker asked, his long face suddenly seemed less severe, and more confused.

"Enough! Your mother has psychic abilities?" Batman decided to end this conversation before either of the others started making connections.

"Yes, she's the leader of the Brain Trust," Brain Trust- Batman remembered that name, but the thought did not make him happy. But at least it was the first thing that had made sense. He also realized now no one could have seen him hunting with Claire, and why she was always so exhausted and hungry after fights, she must have been using her powers. She was hunting the Jokerz to help Batman. But why?

"Why have you been helping me?"

"Like Stalker said, it's a game. She goes after someone, I protect them, eventually she wins, but I like annoying her."

"So you're saying she's going to defeat me?"

"Probably," Not what Batman had been hoping to hear.

"So will you help me?" He turned and looked at her, ignoring Stalker. He had upheld his end of the bargain and brought him his daughter.

"Like Stalker said, her patience only extends so far. I can help you on the side, but I would never face her in open combat. You're on your own if you want to do that."

"You need to forget this game Claire," Stalker warned.

"She's after Batman because of you! Because you failed to kill him!"

"Now she will be after all of us," Stalker said gravely. "I suggest we get moving, I'm sure she has already begun to hunt for us. She must know I am here by now, and she will be looking for me."

"She knows you would look for Claire,"

"Yes," Stalker looked ashamed for a moment, he knew he had accidentally drawn all of them into a trap.


	18. Chapter 18

"Batman, what's going on?" Bruce demanded to know. Batman had jumped back into the cockpit of his plane as he followed Stalker and Claire over the rooftops of Gothem. They were leading him somewhere, he wasn't sure anywhere, but he felt safer following in the plane.

"Claire is Stalker's daughter, and her mother is here somewhere in the city. She's been the one behind all the attacks."

"So where do you think you're going?"

"We need to get some place safe, she's going to be looking for us by now."

"You think you can trust Stalker? Come back to the bat cave, we'll find her from here."

"Sorry Bruce, I can't do that." Terry severed the com-link.

"Terry!" Bruce yelled at the dead signal, but it was no use. For a moment he debated flipping _the_ switch. The one that would turn off the suit. But it was too dangerous. He didn't know where Terry was, taking away the suit could kill him. He was just going to have to trust him. And if he came back alive, then he would take away the suit. Terry could no longer be Batman. He realized that now. He had pushed the kid too far. He had become a true vigilante, not a protector of justice. Now he hunted for the sheer thrill. He had hurt "innocent" people. Batman would never do that. A true Batman never would be able to do that.

Bruce sighed, Ace came to him and laid his head on his lap and looked up at him with his big dark eyes, and whined softly. "You still believe he'll come back don't you?" Bruce scratched his companion behind the ears. "Well… maybe he will…"

Would he come back? Would he come back alive?


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: OMG- I've brought this story back from the dead! **

"We'll be safe here for a moment," Claire said, as she led them all into an abandoned building. Her breathing was slightly labored, it was the first time Terry or Batman had ever seen her out of breath. Batman himself was glad for the pause, and he put his hand to his aching ribs. He had taped them up, but they were still very sore and tender. "I'm sorry I've brought you into this now, I really was hoping to keep you safe." Claire said softly. Batman wasn't sure if she was talking to him or Stalker, or both.

"I think we're okay for the moment- she won't just attack without a plan right?" Batman had been following this woman's actions for a week. While she did seem determined to kill him, she never just attacked; she always had a well- coordinated scheme. The bank, the jewelry store, the train and the empty warehouse- thinking back on every attempt on his life that he somehow escaped, Batman felt a wave of exhaustion pass over him.

"No," Claire said, shaking her head. "Now that she knows we're helping you, she's going to come for you directly."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can try and keep ahead of her, but right now, she's coming for you. No more schemes or plots or hired hands, it's going to come down to you and her."

"And you don't think I can win?"

Claire shook her head, "She has… power. "

"She is a fierce warrior," Stalker said gravely, "I have never faced another opponent like her. She does not fight within the rules of the jungle."

"She makes her own rules…" Terry said. It was not the first time he had tangled with someone from the Brain Trust. They were not the type you could beat with sheer force of strength or will- it would require something more. "Will you help me?" He turned to Claire, "Not in open battle-" He said, before she could deny his request. "I have to bring her somewhere… Where I can even the playing field."

Claire looked at him curiously, "What did you have in mind?"


	20. Chapter 20

"Here?" Claire asked incredulously, staring in slight disgust at the sewer water that flowed beside them in the underground tunnel where Batman had led them. "How did you even know about his place?"

"I'm Batman," He said simply, "This is my city…"

"Why fight her here?" Stalker asked.

Claire looked around her, stared up at the thick concrete ceiling, "She won't be able to find you down here- not as easily. The walls will block some of her energy… She'll know we went down here, but it will be hard for her to follow us."

"We need to split up; she'll have a harder time locating us." Batman said.

"We might get lost," Claire protested, surprisingly frightened by these tunnels. They were so dark and the walls were so close… She needed sky and air…

"I'll find you," Batman promised, and then he was gone, running off down one of the tunnels.

"I suggest we follow his advice," Said Stalker, heading down the other tunnel. Left alone, and unsure what else to do, Claire headed down a third.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Victoria grimaced in frustration. The trail ended at the sewers. They had gone below ground. Batman must have figured out that underground, blocked by thick concrete walls, her psychic powers would be diminished, but still… All three of them traveling together left a thick scent. As she pulled up the sewer cover, and descended below, careful to keep her hands and feet from actually touching the ground, she could still sense them. The followed their trail until she reached and empty cavernous space, and then suddenly, the thick scent seemed to stop. They had divided up. Interesting… Well, perhaps she would just have to hunt them down, one at a time. She would start with Batman. Then Stalker. Then her treacherous daughter.

She followed Batman's scent until she reached another large cavern. Pipes ran across the ceiling and along the floor. Large machines seethed with life as they drew water in and then pumped it back out. "Where or where can that Batman be…" Victoria said, still floating above the ground, although her powers were starting to weaken, cut off from fresh air and humanity...

She heard low faint laughter, and carefully drew a gun, seemingly from nowhere, and aimed it in the direction of the laughter. Though her mind was powerful, she still preferred bullets. "You don't really think you can kill me with a gun do you?" A shadow passed behind her, quick, darting. She squeezed the trigger and fired off a shot. The low laughter again, to her left. "You hunt me like some animal… But I'm not an animal. I am a symbol, I am a legend… I am immortal." The voice said, taunting her. She spun around, and shot at a shadow she was certain had moved. "You're not frightened are you?" The voice taunted, "Your power grows weaker down here…" Sure enough, her feet had drifted slightly closer to the ground. The hem of her long white dress brushed against it.

"Ah… But so does your Claire!" The woman cried, and for a moment, Claire's guise faltered and in that instant, Victoria saw her daughter as clearly as if she were standing in an empty field. "Do not waste my time Claire!"

"Am I a waste of your time?" Suddenly, from out of nowhere, black feet were coming towards her, and before she could react, Batman had kicked her hard in the chest. She fell out of the air, and onto the ground.

"Batman be careful!" She heard her daughter cry. Victoria whirled to her feet, and fired the gun into Batman's chest. It was a direct hit, he crumbled to the floor. "No!" Victoria heard Claire cry out. "Mother! You've killed him!" Her daughter's psychic cloaking went in and out. In her distress, she seemed unable to maintain the guise for long.

"And now it's over, so will you come out and greet your mother properly? Then we really should go find your father… A little family reunion."

"No!" Claire leapt down from a pipe far above, and aimed a strong psychic energy wave at her mother. In the confines of sewer, Victoria was barely able to put up a shield before she was struck by the blast, which blasted the concrete floor, and filled the room with choking dust.

"My… You've grown much stronger." Victoria said, slowly lowering the energy shield, and watching Claire who stood nearby, panting, clearly drained. "But the student has not yet surpassed the Master. Get out of here Claire, this is your last warning."

"No!" Claire said, stubbornly holding her ground. Victoria could sense her trying to raise the energy to let off another blast.

"Then my dear daughter, you are no longer my flesh and blood- but my enemy." She pulled the trigger.

"No!" Suddenly Batman was there, leaping forward, pushing Claire out of the way and onto the floor. The bullet continued its flight straight into one of the huge water containers. Water began to pour from the container in a slow trickle. Batman grabbed a stunned Claire and pulled her back upwards. Bright spots of blood fell onto the floor. So one of them was hit. Both of them were alive. She had once again underestimated Batman. Why couldn't she just kill him? The water had slowly started to fill the space, and the tank seemed like it was under duress, more water pushed against its side and strained against the seams, splashing onto the floor.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: I will finish this story... I swear

* * *

"Are you hurt?" Batman whispered, as he sat up and pulled himself off of Claire and the heap in which they had landed.

Claire slowly sat up, and looked at him with dark haunted eyes, "I-I think I'm okay..." She said. "Are you?" She gestured to his arm. Even in the dim light she could see the tear in the suit.

"It's nothing..." Batman growled, "We need to end this." He didn't want to admit not allowed or even to himself, that he knew he didn't have much left in him. His ribs hurt, his right arm was now damaged and bleeding, if he didn't end it soon, he would end up dead. "Where's Stalker?"

"Right here Batman, are you both alright?"

"We're fine," Batman got to his feet, but Claire made no effort to move.

"We only have one chance to take her down, I'm going to cloak your movements, but it will only be temporary. Think you can take her down?"

Batman nodded, "Do it. Stalker, stay with Claire, I'll handle this." He didn't wait for them to protest before he took off.

*******************************

Victoria walked over to the blood splattered on the floor and waved her hand over it. She was certain it was the Batman's. She felt her heart quicken for a moment when she realized the blood on the floor wasn't his- it was her daughters. Suddenly, the air around her began to thicken. She took a few hesistant steps in the inch of water that had already accumulated on the ground. She recognized this fog, it was a favorite tactic of Claire's. It cloaked her movements and the movements of other's. She readied herself for the attack.

********************************

Victoria was little more than a shadow in the fog, but it was enough for Batman. He went for her but Victoria decided to go on the defensive rather than waiting for the attack and began to fire bullets randomly. Batman was forced to pull back. One more shot. Then a click. The gun was empty. He went for again. This time, his foot made a connection with something more solid. Victoria dropped like a rock.

"Batman!" Stalker cried anxiously. Batman whirled and flew back up to where he had left Claire and Stalker. Claire had fainted, her hand slipping away from her taut stomach to reveal blood. Her blood.

"Oh no..." Batman whispered as he gathered her up in his arms. "We have to get her out of her here."

"Claire!" A voice screamed from behind them, Batman whirled and stared in shock and awe. Victoria had risen from the ground, literally risen- she was floating in mid- air. Her hair streamed around her like a golden halo of fire. Her eyes had turned black.

"Dear lord..." Stalker whispered, "The Blackness has been unleashed."

"The what?" Batman didn't have time to find out more. They were still hidden behind several pipes, but not for long. There was a blinding flash of white light. There was barely time to react as Batman dropped to floor, his body protectively over Claire's. Then a huge chunk of metal hit him broadside and tossed him against the wall. He fought to stay concious as he slid down the wall. His visor went fuzzy. "Claire..." He fired his jet boots vaguely in the direction of Claire's body. His vision cleared as he managed to get back to her high perch. Her body was untouched. Somehow protected. "Claire..." He felt for a pulse, faint, weak, slow. He gathered her into his arms. "Are you happy now?" He yelled. "She's going to die- Are you happy now?"

"No!" The Blackness shrieked. "It was supposed to be you! It was supposed to be you!" Another blinding flash of white light, this time Batman didn't wait. He simply gathered Claire in his arms and jetted skyward, hoping and praying.

***************************

Up on the street, people quickly scrambled out of the way as the ground beneath their feet began to shake. Suddenly, the pavement exploded in white light. When it cleared, the few who had been tossed to the ground slowly stood up. No one was injured. Slowly eyes turned to stare. Batman was amongst them. Sitting near the edge of the torn street. A young woman lay in his arms. Her green eyes slowly opened.

"Thank you... Terry... You were my first... and only friend..." She whispered.

"You knew?"

"I'm a Hunter. A hunter always knows. Don't worry... Your secret's safe with me..." And then her eyes closed, and her body slumped. Sirens approached the scene, but Batman didn't move. As the police in uniforms swarmed towards him, he slowly got to his feet. The young woman still in his arms. No one dared move closer to him. No one spoke a word. He limped towards an ambulance that had appeared. The two EMT's stood frozen as Batman lowered her body onto the stretcher.

"W-What happened?"

"She was shot..." He said, and then before anyone could stop him, he shot off into the air.

****************************************

"Bruce... We have a dead girl here and Batman just fled the scene." Barbara whispered into the phone.

"Do they think it was him?" Bruce's voice was hoarse.

"First code of the Batman, he doesn't use guns. He's not under any suspicion. And we found another body down there. Another woman. She was holding a gun."

"Okay..." Bruce sighed. His gaze turned toward the hatch. Would Terry come back to him? Suddenly the cave entrance slid open. Ace jumped to his feet barking excitedly, and Bruce got to his, and walked towards the plane as it slowly descended. The plane's hatch opened. Terry was inside, slumped against the seats, eyes closed, but alive.


	22. Chapter 22

Terry groaned softly as his eyes opened. Above him a large shape hovered, but he couldn't make it out. Something wet touched his side. He hissed as it burned, and tried to pull away from the pain.

"Easy... Just relax..." A voice above him said. The roomw as becoming less of a blur.

"B-Bruce? Bruce... I'm sorry..." And then exhaustion and pain pulled him back under.

Bruce patted the unconcious young man's shoulder, "It's alright kid, it's alright."

*****************************************

Barbara sighed as she walked away from the crime scene. Two dead bodies, and more questions than answers. Batman probably knew some of the answers but Bruce wasn't answering her calls.

"Commissioner..." A low voice said, a shadowy figure dropped to the ground in front of her, startling her. She dropped her phone.

"Stalker..." She whispered. "What are you doing here? What do you want with me?"

"You know the Batman... Or at least... An aquaintance."

"I don't know what-"

"Please, don't blame games with me. I mean you no harm."

"And Batman?"

Stalker glared at her, "I have a message for him."

"From whom?" She stared him down.

"It doesn't matter- but Batman needs to know. He is in danger. One of The Three has just been killed. They will be looking for him."

"Who? What Three? What are you talking about?"

"The Black Three... Now Two. They will be looking for him. He has been Marked."

"What do you mean- marked?" She took a step toward him, but Stalker stepped backwards.

"He will know- soon. But you must warn him- They are coming for him." And then he slipped away into the shadows, leaving a bewildered Barbara staring around her.

******************************************

Bruce gently cleaned the bullet wound in Terry's arm, where he could tell some kind of bullet had just grazed him. Above it, there was a strange black mark, like a crescent moon. It looked almost like a tattoo, but Bruce could tell it wasn't. What was it?

"Bruce?" Terry's eyes opened again, he tried to sit up, and groaned in pain.

"Careful..." Bruce put a firm but gentle hand on Terry's shoulder to stop him from moving.

"Claire... She... I couldn't..."

"Easy... Easy..." Bruce cautioned him. "You're hurt. Your body needs rest."

"Yeah..." Terry said with a gasping breath, one eye closed against the pain, his teeth gritted with effort. "How bad's the damage?"

"Bad." Bruce replied, brutally honest as always.

"Suit?"

"Going to take some time to repair it."

"Has Barbara called?"

"Yes,"

"Well, Batman did just come out of the subways following an explosion holding a dead girl... I'd imagine that would raise a few eyebrows." Talking hurt, and he winced.

"There will be time... Later, for now you should rest."

"Bruce... I'm sorry. I should have listened. I didn't mean... Things with Claire. They got out of hand."

Bruce took a deep breath and sighed, "So it was you?"

"You already knew that." Terry said. It was a statement of fact, "You think Barbara probably does too..." How had Terry known that? "Bruce..." His blues eyes searched for Bruce's, "Please, you can't take Batman away from me." There were tears in his eyes. "I... I... I screwed up. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Rest Terry, there will be time to talk later."


	23. Chapter 23

"How is he?" Barbara asked as she came into the Bat Cave. Terry was lying on a gurney, with several IV- lines and an oxygen mask.

Bruce said nothing, just turned and walked over to one of the monitors. Terry's injuries were numerous. The past few weeks had done a number on his body. Now he needed time to heal.

"The girl... We ran her through our database. Seems she was wanted for questioning in a number of assualt cases. We're closing the books on the investigation into the two attackers who went after the Jokerz and the Tees. "Tell Terry to get well soon."

"Right."

*******************

"Bruce?" Terry sat up, and unhooked several of the wires. He winced as he felt his sore ribs. His body was almost entirely covered by bandages.

"You're awake."

"Yeah, I think so."

"Bruce... I... Please, you cannot take Batman away from me. I-I screwed up- but it was Terry who screwed up, not Batman. It... It will never happen again. I just got so tired of waiting to be attacked... All I wanted was a chance to strike first... I was confused..."

"Terry... It's okay." Bruce said. "It's okay." Terry sat back down on the table and then fell back to sleep.

***************************

And where have you been?" Dana asked when Terry reappeared at school at lunch time. He had been absent for almost a week.

"Business trip... With Bruce."

"And you couldn't be bothered to tell me?"

"Dana... Look, I'm sorry. It was... It was complicated... Things went badly..." She turned and looked at him. "I promise though, next time, I will try and call. I never meant to hurt you... Or scare you... I just... There was something I had to take care of."

"And did you?"

Terry nodded, "Yes, it's over now."

*****************************

"Look Matt, the most important rule of fighting is you don't start a fight- okay? I'm just gonna teach you how to defend yourself. Now, put your hands up." His brother lifted his hands in front of his face. "Okay, good. Now, hold them just like this..." He adjusted them slightly. "Now... try and hit me!" Matt swung. "Don't let the other hand drop- you need it to protect your face- okay good!"

Mrs McGuiness watched her two sons and smiled.

*****************************

A/N: Oh wow- it is over! 3 years and I actually finished (thats how many years BB lasted on television!) maybe one day I'll get the urge to write more- but for right now, I just wanna click "complete."

Peace.

-CW


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